Mary J C Hendrix, PhD

President and Scientific Director
Children's Memorial Research Center

Medical Research Institute Council Professor
Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center
Feinberg School of Medicine

Research Interests:
The scientific objectives of Dr. Mary Hendrix’s laboratory include identifying genes which contribute to cancer metastasis and other related diseases which exhibit similar biological activities. The major goal is to define important structure/function relationships, which provide the biological basis for new therapeutic strategies. Recent studies, in collaboration with the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH, have generated molecular classification(s) of specific tumors, and have provided new prognostic markers and novel targets for therapeutic intervention. In addition, these studies have identified certain genes that are dysregulated during cancer progression and are also aberrant during development, resulting in birth defects. Current research activities focus on elucidating how regulatory molecules and phenotype control genes govern cell-to-cell and cell-to-matrix interactions, epithelial/mesenchymal transitions, and motility. Specific projects include signal transduction events initiated by cell adhesion molecules and growth factors; factors regulating interconversion of the tumor cell phenotype; novel three-dimensional analysis of cellular invasion through extracellular matrices; regulation of matrix metalloproteinases by tumor and stromal cell interactions; tumor angiogenesis and vasculogenesis; and role of the microenvironment in maintaining and inducing an aberrant cellular phenotype.