The Huang lab’s Study on Pediatric Brain Cancer Lands Developmental Cell cover

Genetic tool identifies tumour weakness in medulloblastoma

Lazy Piggy might sound playful, but in the hands of researchers at the University of Toronto and SickKids, it’s a serious tool for understanding how brain tumours survive.

Developed by former PhD student Jerry Fan from the Huang Lab, Lazy Piggy is a two-stage insertional mutagenesis system that allows researchers to identify the genetic features that tumours rely on to keep growing, not just to begin forming. The tool was tested in a mouse model of SHH medulloblastoma, a common pediatric brain cancer.

The screen identified KCNB2, the most upregulated potassium channel in medulloblastoma, as a key player in tumour maintenance. While potassium channels are better known for their role in nerve signalling, KCNB2 appears to help cancer cells control both their internal balance and their outer membrane tension. When the researchers blocked the gene, tumours became structurally weaker and more responsive to targeted therapies.

Fan conducted the work as part of his PhD in the Department of Molecular Genetics under the supervision of Dr. Xi Huang and Dr. Michael Taylor. The study was published in Developmental Cell and selected for the cover of the journal’s June 2025 issue.

Although ion channels are not traditionally associated with cancer drug development, findings like this suggest that cellular mechanics, not just gene mutations, may be central to how tumours resist treatment. With Lazy Piggy, the team has provided a new way to ask what cancers need to survive and to test what happens when those supports are removed.