This interview is with Clinical Medicine: Oncology editorial board member Dr Daniela Bota. Clinical Medicine: Oncology is an open access journal published by Libertas Academica. Editor in Chief Dr William C S Cho has recently issued a call for papers.

What is the primary focus of your work and main areas of expertise?

The primary focus of my research is the biology of malignant glioma. My laboratory focuses on describing the characteristics of brain tumor stem cells, with the goal of finding specific therapies targeting that very aggressive cell population.

What are the most exciting and cutting-edge developments in your area?

The discovery that tumor growth and resistance to treatment is mainly related to the presence of the tumor stem/initiating cells.

Who are your main formal and informal collaborators and/or networks? Please describe your work with them.

I work with experts from many different fields, including clinical neuro-oncology, neuroscience and molecular imaging. Today's discoveries require a large team, and I am very fortunate to work in a research academic center such as University of California, Irvine.

How did you come to be working in your research area?

I am a clinician treating patients with brain tumor, and I am very aware of the limitations of the current treatment paradigms, which minimally improve patient's outcome. This motivated me to search for novel treatments, in the hope of improving patient's survival and quality of life.

What do you think about the development of open access publishing? Have you published in an open access journal? What motivated you to do so?

I am very appreciative of open access publishing. As I attended medical school in a country where medical information was hard to access, I have come to realize that open access will improve the quality of information available to all researchers in the world.

What articles and/or books have you published recently?

• Rima Dafer and Daniela A. Bota. Acute Methotrexate Neurotoxicity with Choreiform Movements and Local Neurological Deficits: A Case Report. Southern Medical Journal September 2009. [Pubmed]
  
  
• Bota DA, Friedman HS. Interstitial chemotherapy with biodegradable BCNU (GliadelR) wafers in the treatment of malignant gliomas. Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management 3(5):707-715, 2007. [Pubmed]
  

Further information about Dr Bota:

• University of California Comprehensive Brain Tumor Programme
  

share on