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Heinz-Josef Lenz, Professor of Medicine and Preventive Medicine and Associate Director for Clinical Research at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, is one of the F1000 Section Heads for Gastrointestinal Cancers. In this video, Professor Lenz describes his multifaceted areas of interest, focusing on predictive biomarkers for gastrointestinal cancers and early drug development.

Currently, Professor Lenz’s team are looking at the development of drugs that inhibit the complex and vital Wnt signalling pathway, important for cancer cell growth and spread. The challenge, however, is that affecting the cell differentiation aspect of this pathway is associated with significant toxicity; selectively targeting the cell proliferation is a must for the development of therapies for colon cancer, as well as many other cancer types.