We are a research group affiliated with the division of oncology in Rambam Health Care Campus. Our  main  research aim is to detect problems in the daily care of patients and search for solutions in the lab, that can in turn, be translated back to the benefit of our patients. We study women's cancers, with an emphasis on ovarian cancer. Here are some of our projects:

Fallopian tube transformation to epithelial ovarian cancer
Many studies in recent years suggested that high grade serous carcinoma, the most common subtype of epithelial ovarian cancer, arises in the fallopian tube epithelium rather than in the ovary. Until recently there was little experimental evidence to support this hypothesis and a limited number of in-vivo tools to study the process. Dr. Ruth Perets, while a post doc in Dr. Ronny Drapkin's lab in the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, in collaboration with Dr. Dinulescu's lab in BWH, led the development of a genetically engineered mouse model that targeted mutations/deletions of Tp53, Brca1/2 and PTEN specifically to the fallopian tube epithelium. Female mice in this model developed tumors that resembled the human disease in terms of pre-invasive lesions, clinical course, histology, tumor markers, serum biomarkers and genomic landscape. Our model is currently available in the Rambam Health Care Campus and is available to study early ovarian cancer pathogenesis, preventive methods and targeted therapy for ovarian cancer. 

PAX8 as a lineage marker of fallopian tube originating ovarian cancer 
PAX8 is a lineage marker that is expressed in the fallopian tube secretory cell, the newly proposed cell of origin of high grade serous carcinoma. Dr. Perets participated in the work of Dr. Laury and Dr. Hirsch, showing that PAX8 is expressed in nearly 100% of high grade serous carcinomas. In our lab we study the role of PAX8 in normal fallopian tube secretory epithelial cells and in high grade serous carcinoma. We use PAX8 as a model system to test whether the developmental and physiological role of a lineage marker is maintained during transformation. Towards that aim we use tools such as cell culture, molecular biology, expression profiling and protein based assays.