Donald Barkauskas

Donald Barkauskas, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences at the University of Southern California. His research focuses on pediatric oncology, particularly the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying sarcomas and other solid tumors, with an emphasis on translational research and clinical trial development. He is actively involved in the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), contributing to studies on treatment protocols, biomarker discovery, and genetic predisposition in childhood cancers.

Research Interests:

• Clinical trials for sarcomas and pediatric cancers
• Genetic and epigenetic biomarkers in cancer
• Targeted therapy development
• Germline genetic testing in cancer susceptibility
• Prognostic and predictive biomarker validation
• Integration of big data in oncology research

Publications Highlight: His recent work explores therapies for fusion-positive tumors (e.g., larotrectinib for infantile fibrosarcoma), immunotherapy approaches (rituximab and T-cell therapies), and the role of genetic variants in cancer outcomes. He has pioneered studies on ctDNA as a prognostic tool and developed data commons (e.g., Osteosarcoma Explorer) to integrate multi-omic datasets.

Collaborations: As a key COG investigator, he leads studies on osteosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, and Ewing sarcoma, emphasizing risk-stratified treatment strategies and molecular subtyping. His work bridges clinical practice with cutting-edge genomic and computational methods.