Pierpaolo Peruzzi, MD, PhD

Pierpaolo Peruzzi, MD, PhD, of the Department of Neurosurgery, was awarded a Distinguished Scientist grant from the Sontag Foundation to explore the role of microRNAs in a malignant brain cancer, glioblastoma (GBM). This award is administered annually to provide career and research support to scientists committed to advancing the study of brain cancer.

Peruzzi鈥檚 project, 鈥淓xpanding the Role of microRNAs in Glioblastoma Biology and Its Treatment,鈥� explores new therapeutic pathways for GBM by studying how the cancer鈥檚 survival is influenced by the presence of microRNAs, short non-coding genes which regulate protein expression.

Peruzzi, an associate neurosurgeon, is the principal investigator at the Brigham鈥檚 Harvey Cushing Neuro-Oncology Laboratories. He seeks to understand how non-coding RNAs shape tumors鈥� epigenetic landscapes and surrounding molecular environments.

The Sontag Foundation, founded in 2002 by brain cancer survivor Susan Sontag and her husband, Rick Sontag, is one of the largest private funders of brain cancer research in the United States.