Steve has led research groups in pharma and in the Portland VA Medical Center focused on cell-based assays for drug discovery.  The objective of his current research is to identify gene-targeted inhibitors of tumor cells isolated from patients with leukemias and align patterns of drug sensitivity with discrete subsets of patients. This work led to the identification of combinations of inhibitors spanning different drug classes as effective therapies for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). A secondary objective is to understand the mechanisms underlying drug combination efficacy and resistance using genome wide CRISPR screens.  A culmination of this research has led to the development of a rapid assay for determining cell states associated with responsiveness to standard-of-care therapies with the potential to be a companion diagnostic test for guiding AML therapy.