Molecular and Cellular Characterization of Skull Base Tumors

The overall goal of this proposal is to determine new molecular and cellular features that define tumor subtypes that are clinically actionable, may drive important changes in patient management, and/or elucidate novel chemotherapeutic options. Skull base tumors are currently diagnosed based on histopathologic criteria, on which post-operative management is based. However, the investigators hypothesize that each tumor type (eg. chordoma or chondrosarcoma) will have molecular and/or cellular subcategories that will redefine how to categorize and diagnose patients, predict clinical outcome, and optimally design a patient-specific management strategy. In addition, we aim to catalogue changes that occur after treatment after surgical resection, chemotherapy, and/or radiation by comparing primary and recurrent tumors.