After receiving my Ph.D in 2002, I worked as a post doctoral researcher in trying to target the c-MET/HGF signaling in thyroid cancer and melanoma. In the recent years, I have focused on studying the biology and molecular biology of uveal melanoma (UM), a rare melanoma of the eye, that preferentially metastasizes to liver. My research has shown, for the first time, that metastatic UM has a metabolic vulnerability of being strongly dependent on mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation for energy production and survival. Based on this finding, we are trying to develop targeted therapy strategies to block UM cell survival and tumor growth in liver for a strategy to treat metastatic UM. We are validating our in vitro discoveries in single and combination targeted therapy strategies in appropriate pre-clinical models, including a chicken CAM model and an orthotopic mouse model for liver growth of UM tumors, for further testing in clinical settings.