Dr. Rolando F. Del Maestro is the Director of the MNI’s Brain Tumour Research Centre. His research focuses on the invasiveness of malignant glial cells. Malignant glial tumours are complex cellular microenvironments containing one large localized aggregation of tumour cells and smaller subpopulations of invading tumour cells distant from the main tumour mass. Failure to control these subpopulations of invading tumour cells may be the key reason for local and distant recurrence after radical resection and may contribute substantially to the failure of other modalities of treatment such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The goals of his research are:

1. To characterize the invasive paradigms used by malignant glial cells to invade three-dimensional matrices using time-lapsed video microscopy

2. To delineate the genetic and biochemical determinants of these invasive paradigms

3. To develop novel chemotherapeutic approaches to target these invasive subpopulations of malignant cells

See Brain Tumour Research Centre for Dr. Del Maestro's publications

E-mail: Rolando Del Maestro
Web Site: Dr. Del Maestro's Laboratory