Dr. John Clifford's Research Focus

Retinoid Receptor Function and Skin Cancer

Our laboratory focuses on the mechanism of action of retinoids (metabolites of Vitamin A) in the control of cellular differentiation and proliferation. Retinoids are currently the most extensively studied chemopreventive agents and show great promise for the prevention of several epithelial cancers.Additional studies are aimed at understanding the role of the type I interferon signaling pathway in carcinogenesis. We are currently establishing in vitro and in vivo models for studying these two pathways in the progression of human cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.