Glioblastoma is a highly aggressive form of brain cancer with a survival rate generally less than 16 months. With no effective treatments available, a team including researchers from the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego and John Wayne Cancer Institute at Providence Saint John’s Health Center sought to uncover several underlying molecular networks that may yield attractive therapeutic targets for this deadly disease. The results, published in the July 16 online issue of Oncotarget, focus on a transcription factor called OLIG2 (Oligodendrocyte lineage transcription factor), known to play a critical role in brain tumor development. Transcription factors control which genes are turned “on” or “off” at any given time. “This study offers a new way of thinking about, and establishing priorities for, treatment options for glioblastoma,” said first author Igor Tsigelny, a research scientist with SDSC as well as at the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center and the university’s Department of Neurosciences. Learn more at http://www.sdsc.edu/News%20Items/PR20170721_brain_cancer.html