Aaron Diaz, PhD
Research Interests: computational biology, brain tumor heterogeneity
Dr. Diaz is interested in developing targeted therapeutics for the treatment of brain tumors. His laboratory applies molecular and computational approaches to identify therapeutic targets and pathways involved in cancer progression.
To date, some of the most effective cancer therapies are those that home in on molecular defects associated with specific driver genes. However, in highly diverse tumors (like gliomas), clinical trials of promising targeted therapeutics often produce mixed results. This is at least partially due to the challenge that different parts of the tumor may react differently to treatment. To address this pressing challenge, Dr. Diaz’s research combines state-of-the-art computational approaches with traditional laboratory techniques to produce quantitative models of tumor heterogeneity and interactions with the tumor microenvironment. The long-term goal of these studies is to help guide the design of clinical trials with targeted agents and improve the management of brain tumors through precision therapies.
1997: BS, Mathematics, New York University
2003: MS, Computer Science, Cornell University
2003: PhD, Applied Mathematics, Cornell University
2010-2014: Postdoctoral Fellow, Inst. for Human Genetics, UCSF
2003-2010: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Mathematics, Santa Clara University
2014-Present: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, UCSF
2015-2020: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Neurological Surgery, UCSF
2020-present: Associate Professor, Dept. of Neurological Surgery, UCSF
2020-present: Editorial board, Neuro-Oncology
2020-present: Editorial board, Genome Medicine
2020: Society for Neuro-Oncology Adult Basic Research Award
2016: Society for Neuro-Oncology Adult Basic Research Award
2015: Brain Tumor SPORE Career Development Award
The Phenotypes of Proliferating Glioblastoma Cells Reside on a Single Axis of Variation
Wang L, Babikir H, Müller S, Yagnik G, Shamardani K, Catalan F, Kohanbash G, Alvarado B, Di Lullo E, Kriegstein A, Shah S, Wadhwa H, Chang SM, Phillips JJ, Aghi MK, Diaz AA.
Cancer Discov. 2019 Dec;9(12):1708-1719.
A single-cell atlas of glioblastoma evolution under therapy reveals cell-intrinsic and cell-extrinsic therapeutic targets
Wang L, Jung J, Babikir H, Shamardani K, Jain S, Feng X, Gupta N, Rosi S, Chang S, Raleigh D, Solomon D, Phillips JJ, Diaz AA.
Nat Cancer. 2022 Dec;3(12):1534-1552.
Single-cell profiling of human gliomas reveals macrophage ontogeny as a basis for regional differences in macrophage activation in the tumor microenvironment
Müller S, Kohanbash G, Liu SJ, Alvarado B, Carrera D, Bhaduri A, Watchmaker PB, Yagnik G, Di Lullo E, Malatesta M, Amankulor NM, Kriegstein AR, Lim DA, Aghi M, Okada H, Diaz A.
Genome Biol. 2017 Dec 20;18(1):234.
ATRX regulates glial identity and the tumor microenvironment in IDH-mutant glioma
Babikir H, Wang L, Shamardani K, Catalan F, Sudhir S, Aghi MK, Raleigh DR, Phillips JJ, Diaz AA.
Genome Biol. 2021 Nov 11;22(1):311.