Assistant Professor of Surgery, School of Medicine
Margaret Proctor Mulligan Endowed Professor in Cancer Research in Surgery

NextGen Focus Area: Preclinical Cancer Modeling

Dr. Kaifi’s research is focused on the development of preclinical cancer models (patient tissue-derived tumor organoid, xenograft, and genetically engineered mouse and large animal models) to molecularly study and overcome drug resistance mechanisms in non-small cell lung cancer. 

Precision Health Impact:

• The translational studies using patient-derived tissues and animal models aim to have prompt clinical relevance by advancement of laboratory findings into clinical trials in lung cancer patients.

Publications:

Joshi K, Telugu BP, Prather RS, Bryan JN, Hoffman TJ, Kaifi JT, et al. Benefits and opportunities of the transgenic Oncopig cancer model. Trends Cancer. 2024 Mar;10(3):182–4.

Suvilesh KN, Manjunath Y, Pantel K, Kaifi JT. Preclinical models to study patient-derived circulating tumor cells and metastasis. Trends Cancer. 2023 Apr;9(4):355–71.

Mitchem JB, Miller A, Manjunath Y, Barbirou M, Raju M, Shen Y, et al. Somatic mutation variant analysis in rural, resectable non-small cell lung carcinoma patients. Cancer Genet. 2022 Nov;268–269:75–82.

Suvilesh KN, Nussbaum YI, Radhakrishnan V, Manjunath Y, Avella DM, Staveley-O’Carroll KF, et al. Tumorigenic circulating tumor cells from xenograft mouse models of non-metastatic NSCLC patients reveal distinct single cell heterogeneity and drug responses. Mol Cancer. 2022 Mar 12;21(1):73.

Manjunath Y, Mitchem JB, Suvilesh KN, Avella DM, Kimchi ET, Staveley-O’Carroll KF, et al. Circulating Giant Tumor-Macrophage Fusion Cells Are Independent Prognosticators in Patients With NSCLC. J Thorac Oncol. 2020 Sep;15(9):1460–71.

Google Scholar

PubMed

ResearchGate

Email: kaifij@health.missouri.edu
Department website: https://www.muhealth.org/doctors/jussuf-kaifi-md