Dr. Munir Tanas received a five-year NIH R01 grant entitled “Epigenetic Modulation of the TAZ-CAMTA1 Transcriptional Program by the Ada2a-containing Histone Acetyltransferase (ATAC) Complex”. TAZ-CAMTA1 is a fusion protein and main oncogenic driver present in 85% of epithelioid hemangioendothelioma, a vascular sarcoma. The project will investigate the mechanisms by which the ATAC complex modulates the TAZ-CAMTA1 transcriptional program using integrated NGS approaches and structure-function studies. Potential for therapeutic targeting will be evaluated with in vivo studies. This project builds upon a mass spectrometry/RNAi screen performed in collaboration with Dr. Anne-Claude Gingras, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Toronto and Dr. Kieran Harvey, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia.

In addition to the above collaborators, the research will also be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Michael Chimenti, Iowa Institute of Human Genetics and Dr. Robert Cornell, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology.