Welcome to the Mabe lab in the College of Pharmacy and Institute for Cancer Research at Purdue University. The goal of our lab is to increase the number of treatment options for children with cancer. We are interested in understanding how epigenetics underlies tumor pathology,evolution, and response to therapy.
Current projects are focused on targeting of Polycomb Repressive Complex 1, regulation of anti-GD2 immunotherapy response, and selective targeting of therapy-resistant cell states in a variety of childhood cancers. Our long-term goal is to find new therapies to improve outcomes for children with incurable cancers.
Pediatric Oncology
Our research program integrates genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screening platforms with sequencing technologies to prioritize new drug targets and combination therapies for the treatment of pediatric solid tumors.
Scientific Vision
Epigenetic dysregulation is frequently observed in the disease pathology of pediatric cancers. This is due to the disruption of tightly controlled developmental pathways during early childhood, which are regulated by transcription factors and epigenetic modifying complexes. It is becoming increasingly recognized that pediatric tumors harbor intrinsic epigenetic plasticity that enables tumor cells to rapidly transition between lineage states to overcome extrinsic and intrinsic stressors. As such, a mechanistic understanding of the epigenetic and transcriptional pathways mediating this plasticity is essential to ascertain how tumors resist cytotoxic, targeted, differentiation, and immunotherapies. The focus of my lab is to understand how epigenetic reprogramming contributes to resistance to therapy, and how we can selectively target these pathways to prevent tumor relapse. This framework will inform how we can better target cell state transition with small molecule and immune-based therapeutics in the clinic.
Recent news & publications
Destabilization of the noncanonical PRC1.1 complex via USP7 inhibition induces neuroblastoma differentiation
Cmarik EA, et. al. discover that neuroblastoma requires the PRC1.1/BCOR complex to epigenetically repress neuronal differentiation. This process is reversible with USP7 inhibitors.
Graduate student Abhishek Wahi is selected to give an oral presentation on targeting PRC1 complexes in neuroblastoma
Abhishek will present his contribution to bioinformatics analysis of PRC1 complex dependency in neuroblastoma at the Midwest Bioinformatics Showcase on April 17, 2026.
Funding from Infinite Love & CURE Childhood Cancer
We thank the Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer and CURE Childhood Cancer foundations for providing our laboatory early investigator awards to help fund our work studying epigenetic mechanisms underlying drug resistance in pediatric tumors. Thank you!