Brian Haab

Dr. Haab is Head, Laboratory of Cancer Immunodiagnostics, and Professor, Innovation and Integration Program, Center for Cancer and Cell Biology, at the Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) in Grand Rapids, MI. He is also Adjunct Faculty Member for the Genetics Program at Michigan State University.

Dr. Haab and his team are working to enable more accurate detection and diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and to identify key factors in cancer progression and dissemination. Their research approach makes heavy use of understanding the nature and functions of changes to carbohydrates in pancreatic cancer. Their current goals are to define the glycans and proteins that give the most accurate information about pancreatic cancer; and to establish their use as blood tests or cellular assays for examining patients and guiding treatments. These goals are accelerated by the lab’s novel methods of analyzing glycans and proteins in blood, tissue, and cell culture samples.

Dr. Haab joined VARI in 2000 as a Special Program Investigator and Director of the DNA Microarray Core Facility. He also worked as an Assistant Professor and Associate Professor in VARI’s Laboratory of Cancer Immunodiagnostics.

He received his Ph.D., Chemistry, from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University.