The Holmen lab aims to define critical targets in cancer cells that can become the focus for therapeutic intervention. Because of the high cost of developing new therapies, it is essential that we first identify which genetic alterations can be targeted productively. We are concentrating our initial efforts on using a genetic approach in tumors that are refractory to conventional therapies, including metastatic melanoma and glioblastoma. We plan to further validate these targets using pharmacological inhibitors of clinical importance.