The Behbakht lab in association with collaborators has been studying the role of the Six1 homeobox gene in the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer for the past 8 years and has secured DOD and NIH funding. The current projects focus Six1 overexpression in an ex-vivo tissue slice model obtained from patient tumors. The hypothesis is that Six1 expression alters chemosensitiviy and sensitivity to apoptotic stimuli. This is a unique way to study the primary tumor in its microenvironment without using mouse models