Dr. Nijhawan is an Associate Professor in the Medical Oncology division at UT Southwestern Medical Center with a joint appointment in the Department of Biochemistry.  His laboratory is focused on understanding the mechanism of action for orphan anti-cancer compounds using two different strategies.  Working with colleagues in synthetic chemistry, his lab uses photochemical probes to draw relationships between protein binding and toxicity.   In a complementary strategy, the Nijhawan lab uses a forward genetic system established in a colorectal cancer cell line to identify compound resistant mutations.  The results of these efforts have unveiled new mechanisms for targeting stearoyl CoA desaturase, DNA polymerase alpha, the splicing factor RBM39, and enzymes in the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway.