The overall goal of this proposal is to determine new molecular and cellular features that define tumor subtypes that are clinically actionable, may drive important changes in patient management, and/or elucidate novel chemotherapeutic options. Skull base tumors are currently diagnosed based on histopathologic criteria, on which post-operative management is based. However, the investigators hypothesize that each tumor type (eg. chordoma or chondrosarcoma) will have molecular and/or cellular subcategories that will redefine how to categorize and diagnose patients, predict clinical outcome, and optimally design a patient-specific management strategy. In addition, we aim to catalogue changes that occur after treatment after surgical resection, chemotherapy, and/or radiation by comparing primary and recurrent tumors.
