Dr. Carl Koschmann is an Associate Professor with Tenure and the Chad Carr Pediatric Brain Tumor Center Research Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Michigan. He is also the Chad Carr Pediatric Brain Tumor Center Research Clinical Research Director and the Children’s Brain Tumor Network (CBTN) Co-Scientific Director.
Dr. Koschmann's lab investigates the molecular mechanisms by which mutations in pediatric high-grade glioma (pHGG), including diffuse midline glioma (DMG) and DIPG, promote tumor growth and affect response to therapy. His longstanding project on the role of ATRX in pHGG has uncovered its impact on cell cycle control and targeted therapeutics. This work led to the successful attainment of an NIH/NINDS K08 Award (2016-2021) and an NIH/NINDS R01 (2021-2026). Multiple publications have resulted from this project, including publications in Science Translational Medicine and Cancer Research.
Additionally, his lab has established an intrauterine electroporation (IUE) model that is driven by pHGG drivers (e.g., H3F3A and PDGFRA), recently published in JCI. This model is the basis of translational studies supported by a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Cancer Translational Team Science Award (Co-PI, 2021-2026) and a second NIH/NINDS R01 (PI, 2022-2027) studying the efficacy and mechanism of ONC201 treatment in DMG, which was detailed in his recent senior author manuscript in Cancer Discovery. Finally, he serves as the PI/Co-PI for multiple early phase studies in pHGG/DMG for which his lab performs analysis of correlate tumor and CSF samples, as detailed in recent manuscripts in Clinical Cancer Research and Neuro-Oncology.