Van Barnes, PhD

Van Barnes, PhD

Research Faculty & Alliance Lead

My diverse experience in the cancer field, including research on kinase signaling pathways in my graduate and post-doctoral training, combined with my involvement in pre-IND (Investigational New Drug Application) and clinical projects, has provided a unique perspective on development strategies for novel therapies. During my doctoral training, I merged my chemical engineering background with biological research to test compounds targeting members of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway in tumorigenesis and metastatic progression. The novel inhibitors from this project catalyzed our collaboration with researchers evaluating MAPK involvement in osteogenic processes mediated by melatonin, expanding my interest in kinase functions beyond the context of cancer. From my post-doctoral work on the understudied kinase MAP3K19, I became adept at generating and optimizing tools for biological evaluation, as reagents were not commercially available. The long-term goal of my research is centered around delineating MAPK cascades in physiologically relevant cancer models to advance the understanding of disease pathology and personalized therapy.

LCRC Faculty

Missy Wooley
Population Sciences
Louisiana Tech University
Asim Abdel-Mageed DVM PhD
Therapeutics & Diagnostics
Tulane University School of Medicine
Ramsy Abdelghani, MD
Therapeutics & Diagnostics
Tulane University School of Medicine
Jiri Adamec, PhD
Therapeutics & Diagnostics
LSU Health - New Orleans
Sara Al-Dahir, PharmD, PhD, MPH
Population Sciences
Xavier University
Suresh K. Alahari PhD
Therapeutics & Diagnostics
LSU Health - New Orleans
Ashad Alam, MD, PhD
Tumor Biology
Ochsner Health
Muralidharan Anbalagan, PhD
Therapeutics & Diagnostics
Tulane University School of Medicine
Wayne L. Backes PhD
Tumor Biology
LSU Health - New Orleans