Department of Biological Science

Biological Science Faculty Member

Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Brown University, 2005
Graduate Faculty Status

Research and Professional Interests:

My laboratory takes a novel and innovative approach to studying colorectal cancer by leveraging sophisticated genetic tools and practical advantages of Drosophila. We build, study and drug-screen Drosophila cancer models that reflect the complexity and diversity of sequenced human tumors.  Our goal is to embrace disease complexity in our experimental models to uncover novel, emergent drug targets and druggable regulatory nodes. We aim to take a holistic aproach to modeling cancer that accounts for the genetic and cellular heterogeneity of this disease.



Current reasearch interests include:
  -- studying early steps of intestinal tumorigenesis by genetically manipulating fly orthologs of genes frequently mutated in human colon tumors (both in the larval and the adult intestine)

-- Investigation disruptions in stem cell regulation and cell fate decisions as potential druggable vulnerabilities in colorectal cancer

-- developing new genetic tools and strategies for more sophisticated and precise disease modeling

-- genetic screens designed to identify genetic sensitivities that can be exploited for therapy.

-- functional exploration of tumor genome landscapes and other large cancer-omics datasets.

Graduate Students:

Selected Publications:

Quintero M, Bangi E.  Disruptions in cell fate decisions and transformed enteroendocrine cells drive intestinal tumorigenesis in Drosophila. bioRxiv preprint. 2022 
 

Datta I, Linkous BK, Odum TZ, Drew C, Taylor A, Vassel T, Bangi E. A targeted genetic modifier screen in Drosophila uncovers vulnerabilities in a genetically complex model of colon cancer. bioRxiv preprint. 2022 

Bangi E. Strategies for Functional Interrogation of Big Cancer Data Using Drosophila Cancer Models. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 May 26;21(11):3754. 

Bangi E. A Drosophila Based Cancer Drug Discovery Framework. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2019;1167:237-248. 

Bangi E, Ang C, Smibert P, Uzilov AV, Teague AG, Antipin Y, Chen R, Hecht C, Gruszczynski N, Yon WJ, Malyshev D, Laspina D, Selkridge I, Rainey H, Moe AS, Lau CY, Taik P, Wilck E, Bhardwaj A, Sung M, Kim S, Yum K, Sebra R, Donovan M, Misiukiewicz K, Schadt EE, Posner MR, Cagan RL. A personalized platform identifies trametinib plus zoledronate for a patient with KRAS-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer. Sci Adv. 2019 May 22;5(5):eaav6528. eCollection 2019 May.

Bangi E, Murgia C, Teague AG, Sansom OJ, Cagan RL. Functional exploration of colorectal cancer genomes using Drosophila. Nat Commun. 2016 Nov 29;7:13615. 

Bangi E, Pitsouli C, Rahme LG, Cagan R, Apidianakis Y. Immune response to bacteria induces dissemination of Ras-activated Drosophila hindgut cells. EMBO Rep. 2012 Jun 1;13(6):569-76. 

Full Publication list:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/erdem.bangi.1/bibliography/public/