Damon Runyon Researchers

Dr. Zimmerman studies neuroblastoma, a tumor of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system. In high-risk neuroblastoma tumors, which account for 15% of all childhood cancer deaths, the chromatin remodeling gene CHD5 is often deleted and its loss is associated with poor prognosis. The gene expression program regulated by CHD5 has strong tumor suppressive effects and has thus emerged as a very attractive target for potential anti-cancer therapeutics. CHD5 expression is also altered in other cancer types, indicating a potential role in many different adult and pediatric malignancies. His research elucidating the CHD5 pathway in a zebrafish model of neuroblastoma will lead to significant advances in our understanding of how CHD5 functions as a tumor suppressor