The research interests of Tamas Ordog, M.D., revolve around the molecular, cellular and translational biology of the gastrointestinal neuromuscular system, with particular focus on the gut's own nervous system and interstitial cells of Cajal, which mediate interactions between nerve and smooth muscle cells and generate electrical rhythmicity required for gut peristalsis. Depletion or loss of function of subsets of gastrointestinal neurons and interstitial cells of Cajal leads to gastrointestinal motility disorders (for example, in diabetes), whereas neoplastic growth of interstitial cells of Cajal underlies gastrointestinal stromal tumors (the most common form of sarcoma).

Both groups of diseases — those caused by loss of gastrointestinal neurons and interstitial cells of Cajal and those caused by neoplastic growth — lack curative therapy. Dr. Ordog's current efforts are devoted to understanding the cell-intrinsic and microenvironmental mechanisms regulating the development and function of interstitial cells of Cajal and gastrointestinal neurons, as well as tumor-initiating and tumor-suppressing mechanisms in gastrointestinal stromal tumors with an emphasis on epigenetic and metabolic control of gene transcription and receptor tyrosine kinase signaling.