Málstofa GPMLS og Lífvísindaseturs - Epithelial mesenchymal plasticity in breast cancer

Málstofa GPMLS og Lífvísindaseturs fimmtudaginn 7. maí kl. 13:00-14:00 í Öskju, stofu N-132

Fyrirlesari: Dr. Erik (Rik) Thompson, Professor in Breast Cancer Research, School of Biomedical Sciences, and Personalised Therapies Domain Leader, Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology at the Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia.

Titill: Regulating epithelial mesenchymal plasticity in breast cancer model systems to enhance therapy responses

Ágrip: Epithelial mesenchymal transition has been clearly implicated in therapy resistance, including hormonal-, chemo-, radiation- and immune-therapies. A number of cancer studies have shown EMT reversal and chemo-sensitisation with the approved microtubule inhibitor eribulin, which we have explored using breast cancer patient-derived cultures as well as cell line models systems. Our data, to be presented, indicate some contextual constraints in this activity that need to be resolved before this can be translated to better treatment responses. 

Bio: Erik is a Professor of Breast Cancer Research, School of Biomedical Sciences, and Personalised Therapies Domain Leader, Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology at the Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia. Rik has 40 years of breast cancer research spanning NIH and Georgetown University, USA, St. Vincents Institute / University of Melbourne, and Queensland University of Technology / Translational Research Institute since 2014. Initial research interests in invasion, metastasis and matrix metalloproteinases led to studies on epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) / plasticity (EMP), circulating tumour cells (CTCs) / liquid biopsy, mammographic breast density, cold atmospheric plasma and patient-derived organoids (PDOs). He had led several major collaborative networks, and currently has NBCF Research Program grant support for targeting the EMP hybrid state. He has 361 publications with 37,607 career citations (h-index 99, Google Scholar). He co-founded The EMT International Association (TEMTIA) in 2001.