The Weiss laboratory is focused on understanding the molecular and immunologic mechanisms of thyroid cancer invasion and metastasis. While most thyroid cancer patients respond well to standard therapy, there are few options for those with widely metastatic or recurrent disease. Predicting which patients will have aggressive disease and treating those patients is an important goal in the field. The goal of the laboratory is to understand the signaling mechanisms and immune microenvironment responsible for the aggressive malignant behaviors of metastatic and recurrent disease. Projects include defining the role of Wnt signaling within the current molecular landscape of papillary thyroid carcinoma. The laboratory also uses computational immunogenomics to define the immunologic microenvironment within aggressive thyroid cancer subtypes to improve treatment and malignancy risk prediction at the time of biopsy.