Dr. Gius graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S in chemistry in 1983, finished his Ph.D. thesis work from the University of Chicago in 1989, and graduated from Loyola Medical School in 1992. He completed an internship year at the University of Chicago and his radiation oncology residency at Washington University School of Medicine, the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology. Dr. Gius received an ASTRO Fellowship Award during his postdoctoral training at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In addition, he was a faculty member for 4 years in the Section of Cancer Biology and the Radiation Oncology Department at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology prior to his current position at the NCI.
The Gius Laboratory has a national reputation for both original and innovate research using both tissue culture and murine models to investigate the signaling pathways that govern cell repair. Furthermore, his research and publications have shown that the dysfunctions of these pathways results in a cellular phenotype permissive toward carcinogenesis and tumor cell resistance. His research is uniformly regarded and original and rigorously done and his work in the last four years has challenged the paradigms of imprinting and cancer and the connection between aging, mitochondrial metabolism and carcinogenesis. Recently, he has identified the first mitochondrial tumor suppressor gene and this work connects aging, cellular mitochondrial metabolism, and carcinogenesis.
Dr. Gius independent research focuses on two major areas of interest. The first involves constructing murine models to investigate the genetic connection between aging and carcinogenesis. This area focuses on the Sirtuin gene family, which has been shown to regulate longevity, as well as defend against oxidative stress. This is a relevantly new area for Dr. Gius laboratory however; it has already resulted in one publication, another in revisions in Cancer Cell, and several additional manuscripts that are in preparation. This has resulted in one of the first in vivo murine models for receptor positive breast cancer. The second area involves the idea that oxidative stress induces methyltransferase (DNMT) activity and increases gene expression of the pro-survival gene families that may play a role in both carcinogenesis and tumor cell radiation resistance. This work investigates the role of insulator DNA-binding proteins, specifically CTCF and CTCFL/BORIS, in the regulation of imprinting and gene expression in tumor cells as well as normal tissues.
Dr. Gius has published over 50 publications in some of the most recognized and prestigious journals in the field of biological and cancer research. His research has resulted in the publication of peer reviewed manuscript in such well regard scientific journals including Nature, Cancer Cell, PNAS, Mol. Cell. Biol., Can. Res., Clinical Can. Res., Oncogene, Mol. Can. Res., Cancer Letters, J. Natl. Can., Inst., Free Radic. Biol. Med., as well as other oncology focused journals.
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