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Basic Science Research
Basic Science Research
At the foundation of the Bazzaro Lab's work is a drive to understand why ovarian cancer behaves the way it does at the cellular and molecular level. This includes:
Understanding treatment resistance. When chemotherapy stops working, it's not random, there are biological reasons behind it. The lab investigates the specific molecular pathways that allow cancer cells to survive treatment, so those vulnerabilities can eventually be targeted.
Tumor heterogeneity. Not all cancer cells within a single tumor are the same. The lab studies how this internal diversity allows some cells to evade therapy and drive recurrence, a key reason ovarian cancer is so difficult to cure.
Immune evasion. Immunotherapy has transformed cancer treatment in many cancers, but ovarian cancer often doesn't respond. The lab works to understand why tumors "hide" from the immune system and how to change that.
Translational Research
Translational Research
This is where laboratory discoveries become real-world hope for patients. The Bazzaro Lab bridges the gap between science and the clinic in several meaningful ways:
OPAL — A First-of-Its-Kind Digital Pathology Library. Dr. Bazzaro built OPAL, the first integrated digital library of ovarian cancer tumor specimens, combining real patient tissue samples, high-resolution imaging, and AI analysis. This platform helps researchers identify biomarkers, biological signals that can predict whether a patient's tumor will respond to a given treatment before therapy even begins.
Predicting resistance before it happens. By analyzing tumor samples from patients, the lab works toward tools that could one day tell oncologists: this tumor is likely to stop responding to standard chemotherapy — so a different approach can be planned from the start.
Moving discoveries toward the clinic. The lab's strong partnerships with oncologists, pathologists, and computational scientists — across the U.S. and in Europe — mean that findings don't stay in the lab. They are built with clinical application in mind, aimed at expanding treatment options for women with advanced, recurrent, or treatment-resistant disease.
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