Cancer Control & Psychoneuroimmunology Lab

The Cancer Control and Psychoneuroimmunology Laboratory (CCPL), led by Dr. Michelle Janelsins, is at the forefront of cancer control and symptom management science. We are a clinical and translational research lab with a focus on understanding and treating cancer-related cognitive decline, which is an important clinical problem for several patients with cancer. We use a multi-disciplinary approach involving clinical cohort studies (locally and nationally), randomized clinical trials and pre-clinical murine models, with an emphasis on understanding the psychoneuroimmunology of cancer and cancer treatments. Our research involves understanding the neurobiologic underpinnings of cognitive decline due to chemotherapy and other cancer treatments, identifying risk factors of cognitive decline and related problems in patients, as well as designing innovative clinical trials to alleviate cognitive decline and related problems.

The CCPL also provides key expertise as part of the Human Biophysiology Shared Resource, and fosters collaborations among Wilmot Investigators in Genetics, Epigenetics, and Metabolism (GEM), Cancer Microenvironment (CM), and the Cancer Prevention and Control (CPC) program, where we serve a majority of CPC Program members. We offer investigators services and expertise in human biomarker profiling, biospecimen processing, multimodal data integration in human biophysiology and human performance, as well as consultation on the conduct of innovative, equitable, and impactful human subject trials in oncology (Please see Policies, Procedures and Equipment).