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 Dr. Sood is Professor and Vice Chair for Translational Research in the Departments of Gynecologic Oncology & Reproductive Medicine. He is also Director of the Blanton-Davis Ovarian Cancer Research Program and Co-Director of the Center for RNA Interference and Non-Coding RNA. His research is focused in three main areas: 1) development of new strategies for systemic in vivo siRNA delivery using biocompatible nanoparticles; 2) effect of neuroendocrine stress hormones on ovarian cancer growth and progression; and 3) development of novel anti-vascular therapeutic approaches. Dr. Sood has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and has authored and co-authored several book chapters, and he serves on the editorial board for several journals. He is a Deputy Editor for Gynecologic Oncology. Dr. Sood has received major recognition for his research accomplishments including the Hunter Award, the Margaret Greenfield/Carmel Cohen Excellence in Ovarian Cancer Research Prize, and the GCF/Claudia Cohen Research Prize for Outstanding Gynecologic Cancer Researcher.  He was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, an honor society for physician-scientists. Dr. Sood is actively involved in teaching graduate students and clinical fellows.  He is a member of The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and teaches classes related to cancer cell signaling pathways.

My research is focused in three main areas: 1) Effects of neuroendocrine pathways on ovarian cancer growth and progression. The adverse effects of stress pathways on the immune system have been known for a long time. My laboratory made the novel observation that stress hormones can have direct effects on ovarian cancer cells via beta-adrenergic receptors and promote angiogenesis, tumor growth and metastasis. Ongoing work is focused on dissecting the molecular and biological processes involved in mediating the effects of stress biology on tumor microenvironment. 2) Development of novel anti-vascular therapeutic approaches. Our ongoing studies in this area are focused on understanding the functional significance of key tyrosine kinases such as EphA2 and focal adhesion kinase in tumor angiogenesis. In addition, we are examining the relevance of perivascular cells in protecting tumor-associated endothelial cells.  Based on these findings, we have developed novel strategies for targeting both endothelial cells and pericytes in ovarian cancers. 3) Development of new strategies for systemic in vivo siRNA delivery. The use of siRNA as a method of gene silencing has rapidly become a powerful tool for determining protein function and gene discovery. The extraordinary sequence specificity of siRNA makes it an attractive tool for cancer therapy. We are utilizing nanovectors for highly efficient in vivo delivery of siRNA with the hope of translating this work for clinical applications in the near future. 

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Last updated: 1/31/2013