Improving outcomes for patients with thoracic cancers.

The Thomas Lab studies the biology and treatment resistance of small-cell lung cancer and other aggressive thoracic malignancies. We use a cross-disciplinary translational research approach that integrates clinical trials, longitudinal biospecimen collection, patient-derived models, plasma-based profiling, spatial and single-cell technologies and functional biology to understand how tumors evolve, metastasize and escape therapy.

Our central mission is to transform patient observations into mechanistic discoveries and new therapeutic strategies. By closely linking patient care with laboratory investigation across genomics, epigenomics, cancer metabolism, DNA repair biology, tumor immunology, computational biology and experimental modeling, we aim to identify clinically actionable vulnerabilities, develop biomarkers to guide treatment and build a translational research platform to improve outcomes for patients with lung cancer.