Van Rechem Lab
The long-term interest of the Van Rechem Lab lies in understanding the impact chromatin modifiers have on disease development and progression so that more optimal therapeutic opportunities can be achieved.
Pediatric Brain Tumor Research in the Van Rechem Lab
Chromatin modifiers are highly altered in diseases. Of interest, these proteins are targetable by drugs. Furthermore, the plasticity of epigenetic events makes them a powerful target for new therapeutic strategies and reversion of disease phenotype. Histone and DNA modifications influence many processes including transcription, replication, genomic stability and cell division, which are altered in diseases. Therefore, understanding the molecular basis of chromatin modifiers in both normal and pathological cells could help us frame new potential biomarkers and targeted therapies.
The long-term interest of the Van Rechem Lab lies in understanding the impact chromatin modifiers have on brain cancer development and progression so that more optimal therapeutic opportunities can be achieved. Our laboratory explores the direct molecular impact of chromatin modifiers during cell cycle progression, and characterizes the unappreciated and unconventional roles that these chromatin modifiers have on cytoplasmic function, such as protein synthesis. By gaining molecular understanding into the mechanism of action of chromatin modifiers in normal and pathological cells, we will improve our basic knowledge and provide needed insights into new potential targeted therapies in diseases.
Open Positions
Interested in working in the Van Rechem Lab? Contact Dr. Van Rechem about lab openings at [email protected].
Research Team
Capucine Van Rechem, PhD
Dr. Van Rechem received her education at the University of Lyon I, France (BS in Cellular Biology and Physiology, Genetics) and at the University of Lille II, France (MS in Biological Sciences, PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology). She came to the United States for her post-doctoral training at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School Department of Medicine, where she became an Assistant in Genetics and Instructor of Medicine in 2015. In 2017, Dr. Van Rechem was appointed as an assistant professor in Pathology at Stanford University. She joined the neurosurgery department at CU Anschutz School of Medicine in May 2026 as an associate professor.
Dr. Van Rechem is interested in the molecular impact of chromatin modifiers on disease development, with an emphasis on brain cancer. Her laboratory undertakes a cell-cycle specific angle to explore specific functions such as gene expression and replication timing. They also explore unconventional direct roles for these factors in the cytoplasm, with a focus on protein synthesis. Their ultimate goal is to provide needed insights into new targeted therapies.
Dimitri Vanauberg, PhD
Dr. Vanauberg, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Rechem Lab. He grew up in the north of France and completed a B.Sc in Cell Biology at the University of Lille in 2020. Highly interested in cancer biology, I=he obtained a M.Sc in oncology in 2022. As an undergraduate, he worked in Pr. Lefebvre’s lab studying the regulation of fatty acid synthase (FASN) by O-GlcNAcylation in hepatic cancer. Vanauberg’s love for this subject led him to pursue his PhD in the same lab. He completed his doctoral work in 2025, which focused on identifying the cellular and molecular mechanisms modulated by O-GlcNAcylated FASN in hepatic cancer cells. He joined Dr. Van Rechem’s lab in 2026 at Stanford University, and will continue his oncology training here in Dr. Rechem’s Lab on the CU Anschutz campus. His focus is on cytoplasmic roles of SWI/SNF in atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors, and he is interested in the involvement of cholesterol metabolism in diffuse midline gliomas.