Acs Research - Theorylab

In this episode—which skews more toward a scientific audience until the last five minutes—two American Cancer Society grantees spoke with each other about their recently published new findings in breast cancer research. Sonia de Assis, PhD, is interested in epigenetic inheritance: “In addition to genetic material or DNA, our parents also pass to us molecular memory of their environmental exposures, and that can affect our risk or predisposition to disease including cancer.” Matthew Sikora, PhD, focuses on invasive lobular carcinoma, a type of invasive breast cancer. He feels that “advances in treatment are hindered by our poor understanding of the distinct biology of invasive lobular carcinoma,” and his lab has identified a potential therapeutic target. Sonia de Assis, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Oncology at Georgetown University. She recently published findings showing that, “systemic alterations play a dominant role in epigenetic predisposition to breast cancer in offspring of obese fathers and is

In this episode, three researchers from Dartmouth who are investigating very different aspects of cancer joined the podcast to share their work. One of the guests, James Moseley, PhD, summed up why a diversity of scientific approaches and collaboration among researchers is so important: “We’re all in this together. There are so many different angles to fighting cancer, whether it be here at Dartmouth—where we’ve got folks working on the level of cells and proteins all the way up through patient care and beyond—or through the ACS. This is really a team effort, and we’re all kind of working on our individual parts, but (this is) a reminder that we’re all working together to tackle all these different aspects of cancer with the ultimate goal of helping patients and survivors.” Amber Barnato, MD, MPH, MS, is the Susan J. and Richard M. Levy 1960 Distinguished Professor in Health Care Delivery. Her research focuses on variation in end-of-life intensive care unit and life-sustaining treatment use. Kathleen Lyons

To understand how cancer develops and spreads, and to develop better therapies, it’s critical to understand the tumor microenvironment, the immediate area around a tumor that “helps generate a supportive niche for it to develop and grow.” Johanna Joyce, PhD, joined the podcast to explain that the diverse normal cells around a tumor are enmeshed with cancer cells. They’re integrated. They communicate and influence each other’s functions. Her lab’s goal is “to try and either block this cellular conversation or redirect it towards a more constructive dialogue that helps fight the tumor and not support it.” Johanna Joyce, PhD, is Professor at the University of Lausanne and Full Member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. 4:32 – What is the tumor microenvironment? 6:00 – Why it’s similar to the immense complexity of a forest’s ecosystem 8:19 – Do tumors somehow create or remodel their microenvironments? 12:42 – “The tumor microenvironment can have a major impact on how a given cancer responds to

When Delaram Cavey was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer seven years ago, she was fortunate to have two wonderful daughters to help her along her journey. Delaram and her older daughter, Catherine Cavey, joined the podcast to share the story of Delaram’s cancer diagnosis and treatment. They also talked about how the cancer experience has sparked an interest in science in their family. Catherine has created an educational resource to raise awareness of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations, and they’ve founded GoMENA to create pathways for immigrant girls of Middle Eastern and North African descent to become engineers in the United States (https://gomena.us/). Delaram Cavey is a career member of the United States foreign service. Her daughter, Catherine Cavey, is in the 10th grade at Edison High School in Fairfax, Virginia. 5:09 – The story of Delaram’s lung cancer diagnosis 9:08 – Catherine on her memories of her mom’s diagnosis 12:54 – What it was like for Delaram, as a never smoker, to

Melanoma is much less common than some other types of skin cancers, but it is more dangerous because it’s much more likely to spread to other parts of the body if not caught and treated early. While there have been some exciting advances in melanoma research in recent years, there is much left to learn about, for example, how it spreads, how it resists treatment, and therapies could be improved. In this episode, three scientists at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center who are investigating different aspects of melanoma explain why it’s a challenging disease, describe recent advances against it, and underscore why there are so many reasons to be excited. 4:11 - Andrew Aplin, PhD, is Associate Director of Basic Research at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center and Professor in the Department of Cancer Biology. Chris Snyder, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center. Neda Nikbakht, MD, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Dermatology an

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer, but if it’s found at an earlier stage, when it is small and before it has spread, it is more likely to be successfully treated. To take us through the state of lung cancer screening in the US—big picture issues, challenges faced by patients and clinicians, and reasons for excitement—we were joined by two leading experts in the field. Christopher Slatore, MD, MS, is an investigator for the Portland VA Health Service Research and Development Center of Innovation, Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care (CIVIC). He’s Associate Professor of Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, and he’s a pulmonologist who conducts lung cancer screening. He’s also an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant recipient. Anne Melzer, MD, MS, is Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. She is an Investigator at the Minneapolis VA Center for Care Delivery and Outcomes Research. And she is a pulmonologist who is the m

The American Cancer Society is committed to maintaining a broad cancer research portfolio—any type of cancer, within any part of the cancer research continuum. This episode is a perfect example of this commitment and features three cancer researchers from the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. Kathy Shair, PhD, studies how the Epstein-Barr virus causes cancer. Sarah Hengel, PhD, is investigating why unrepaired DNA leads to cancer. And Yuri Bunimovich, MD, PhD, conducts research into the role of our body’s nerves in melanoma growth. 1:47 – Yuri Bunimovich, MD, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Dermatology and member of the Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy program at Hillman Cancer Center Sarah Hengel, PhD, is an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow at the Hillman Cancer Center in the Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology in the Kara Bernstein lab. Kathy Shair, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and an investigator in the Cancer Virology program

At first glance, the work of Eva Hernando and Thales Papagiannakopoulos might not seem to have much in common. Dr. Hernando studies the contributions of non-genetic alterations to the aggressive behavior of melanoma. Dr. Papagiannakopoulos is applying CRISPR/Cas9 to study lung cancer. But in this conversation, Drs. Hernando and Papagiannakopoulos take us through the ins and outs of their research into why cancer grows and spreads, and we learn how they learn from each other, how NYU Grossman School of Medicine encourages collaboration, and why new directions in cancer research have them feeling optimistic. 3:05 – Eva Hernando, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Pathology and Assistant Dean for Research at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Thales Papagiannakopoulos, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. 5:26 – Dr. Hernando on why cancer cells metastasize 10:10 – Why she studies metastasis in melanoma 13:28 – Dr. Papagiannakopoulos on why i

Pancreatic cancer is a terrible disease. “The 5-year relative survival rate for all stages combined is 10%,” according to Cancer Facts & Figures 2021. “Even for the small percentage (11%) of people diagnosed with local disease, the 5-year survival rate is only 39%.*” But cancer researchers are learning more every day about how to find pancreatic cancer early and develop targeted therapies. Laura D. Wood, MD, PhD, a clinician scientist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, joined the podcast to explain why pancreatic cancer is difficult to detect early and how her team is approaching the problem. 2:34 – Laura D. Wood, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and Director of GI Pathology in the Division of Gastrointestinal and Liver Pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. And she’s an American Cancer Society Research Scholar. 3:32 – As a graduate student she was among the first in the world to sequence the whole exomes of human tumors. What are whol

How can we use the exceptional greed of cancer cells against them? They gobble up all the resources in their local environment, spread to another area, and then gobble up more resources. Thales Papagiannakopoulos, PhD, explains that there’s a cost to that. A cancer cell takes a lot of fuel, but it produces a lot of waste. It has a few tricks for getting rid of that waste, such as taking advantage of antioxidants in our diet, but Dr. Papagiannakopoulos and his team are exploring some innovative approaches to this problem. In this conversation, Dr. Papagiannakopoulos takes us through cancer metabolism and the implications of ACS-funded cancer research that has moved into clinical trials. 3:30 - Thales Papagiannakopoulos, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine 4:26 –What does metabolism do for normal cells? How does the metabolism of immune cells help them fight off infections? 9:03 – How does a cell’s need for energy change as it becomes a cancer ce

A key challenge in treating some cancers is the ability to distinguish tumors that are likely to metastasize from indolent disease that can be managed with active surveillance. Dr. Peder Larson has developed a non-invasive imaging method based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure the rate at which a tumor creates lactic acid and transports it out of cells. In this conversation he explains how the technology works and how he hopes to create imaging biomarkers to identify cancers that require aggressive therapy. 3:13 – Peder Larson, PhD, is an Associate Professor in Residence and a Principal Investigator in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at the University of California, San Francisco. He’s also a core member of the joint UC Berkeley–UCSF Graduate Program in Bioengineering. 4:13 – How oncologists use imaging data 8:57 – How does MRI work? 13:11 – How MRIs are used in treatment decisions… 15:56 – …and some of their limitations 17:44 – How we could use MRIs to understand can

Screening can prevent colorectal cancer through the detection and removal of precancerous growths (polyps), as well as detect cancer at an early stage, when treatment is usually less intensive and more successful. People living in rural areas are much less likely to undergo screening due to a number of barriers, but some rural clinics have achieved high colorectal cancer screening rates despite such constraints. Dr. Jennifer Weiss of the University of Wisconsin-Madison joins the podcast to talk about how these clinics have been successful in “developing relevant, impactful, and sustainable approaches to increasing colorectal cancer screening in rural communities.” The American Cancer Society recommends regular colorectal cancer screening for people at average risk starting at age 45: https://www.cancer.org/healthy/find-cancer-early/american-cancer-society-guidelines-for-the-early-detection-of-cancer.html. 4:45 – Jennifer Weiss, MD, MS is Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterolo

Dr. Nicole Steinmetz is well on her way in her mission to “push new frontiers in medicine and bio-nanotechnology through the design, development and testing of materials and biologics derived from plant viruses.” Plant viruses? Plant viruses. They’re non-infectious to humans. When injected into a tumor the immune system is alerted to their presence; finding no threat from the plant virus the immune cells fight the tumor instead. Dr. Steinmetz talks us through the technology she’s developed, explains how it can advance immunotherapy, and gives us a glimpse of how she and her team are applying this platform toward COVID-19 vaccine development. 1:52 – Nicole Steinmetz, PhD, Professor of NanoEngineering and Director of the Center for Nano-ImmunoEngineering at the University of California, San Diego 2:34 – What are nanoparticles? Why are they useful in medicine? 7:11 – The Ballad of the Ferrari and the Geo Storm 9:25 - How nanoparticles are useful in cancer diagnostic and therapeutic approaches 14:36 – U

When it comes to how diet affects colorectal cancer risk, it’s not just a question of whether you eat your fruits and vegetables. Are you eating the right combinations of foods? How do your dietary patterns influence your metabolism? How does genetics play a role? Dr. Fred Tabung just received an American Cancer Society research grant to explore these questions. He talked about how his study will identify specific groups for which certain dietary patterns might play a significant role in increasing or decreasing colorectal cancer risk. Fred Tabung, PhD, MSPH, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at The Ohio State University and the Division of Medical Oncology at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. 5:30 – Why the nutritional epidemiology of cancer is important 7:05 – On some current trends in colorectal cancer diagnosis and mortality 8:48 – Why he thinks the impact of our habitual dietary patterns on our metabolism and gut microbiome could impact colorectal c

While working as program directors at Georgia Institute of Technology’s VentureLab—Georgia Tech’s incubator for technology startups—Melissa Heffner and Sara Henderson saw an opportunity to create a program for female entrepreneurs. Female Founders is “a four-week virtual cohort experience where participants gain a foundational knowledge of lean startup methodology and customer discovery while tackling topics associated with the specific journey of female-led startups:" https://www.icorpssouth.com/female-founders-initiative. Ms. Heffner joined the TheoryLab podcast along with three participants in the program to share advice for evidence-based entrepreneurship and talk about the exciting technology that is behind their respective start-ups. Melissa Heffner is a program director with Georgia Institute of Technology’s VentureLab and the co-creator of Female Founders. Ana Luz Quiroga Campano, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Biological Systems Engineering Laboratory at Emory University and Georgia Tech.

The troubling increase of early-onset colorectal cancer incidence and mortality has led to a shift in the age at which the American Cancer Society recommends beginning colorectal cancer screening, from age 50 to age 45. What are some of the biological and environmental factors that might be behind this rise in early-onset colorectal cancer? How can we prevent it? And what is behind the troubling racial and ethnic disparities we see in colorectal cancer incidence and mortality? Joining us to take us through these issues is one of the leading researchers in this space. Peter Campbell, PhD, is Scientific Director, Epidemiology Research, in the Population Science Department of the American Cancer Society. 4:05 – The main areas of focus in his research program 7:26 – The differing incidence and mortality rates for colorectal cancer in younger and older Americans 10:57 – On racial/ethnic colorectal cancer disparities 13:26 – Digging into the “why” behind some of these trends 19:36 – How the American Cancer

The collaboration between Claudia Benavente, PhD, and Michael Emanuele, PhD, is a perfect example of how cancer researchers with overlapping interests but very different expertise can come together to find a new path forward in cancer research. They found each other through the American Cancer Society’s online community for current and former cancer research grantees. The Benavente Lab had previously identified a new protein with exciting therapeutic potential that is critical for tumor metastasis. Independently, the Emanuele Lab found that this protein is tightly controlled by a cellular machinery that functions to eliminate proteins within the cell. Together, they are collaborating on an ACS-funded research project to determine how this protein is made, how it functions, and how it’s eliminated, with the goal of creating novel target therapeutics for patients with triple-negative breast cancer. 2:55 – Claudia Benavente, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Califor

What does studying how cells communicate in round worms have to do with cancer in humans? In order for cancer cells to multiply indefinitely and metastasize to another part of the body, they have to communicate with each other. Understanding how they do that is critical to developing the next generation of cancer therapeutics. As American Cancer Society grantee Theadora Tolkin, PhD, puts it, “The signals that cancer cells use to communicate with one another are exactly the same signals that our healthy cells use every day to keep us alive and well. The difference between healthy communication and communication that leads to cancer, however, may have to do with the levels of signal sent or received. Sometimes, a cell becomes a cancer cell because it stops listening to the cells around it. Other times, cancer gets started when a cell thinks it hears a signal that’s not there.” In this conversation, Dr. Tolkin helps us understand the signal that she’s studying, called Notch, and how problems with Notch sign

HPV, or Human Papillomavirus, is a common virus that can cause six types of cancer. While there is no treatment for HPV, there is a vaccine that can prevent it. The HPV vaccine works best when given between ages 9 and 12, for boys and girls, and it is safe, effective, and long-lasting. Jenny Grandis, MD, is at the forefront of translational research in head and neck cancer. She joined the podcast to talk about the prevalence of HPV-associated head and neck cancers, why they can be hard to detect, why the side effects can be so devastating, and why prevention through vaccination is so important. She was joined on the podcast by Adrienne Murr, a high school student who recently completed a summer internship in the Grandis lab. Ms. Murr talked about what she took away from her experience in the lab. And she offered helpful advice for parents talking to their children about HPV vaccination. She wrote an op-ed on the subject titled, "HPV is a threat to your children. Vaccines are not.” Jenny Grandis, MD, is th

American Cancer Society scientists recently released a new report, “Blueprint for cancer research: Critical gaps and opportunities,” that sought to highlight the work needed to develop better tools and strategies to limit cancer as a major health concern. Our guest, Lynne Elmore, PhD— Senior Scientific Director of Cell Biology and Preclinical Cancer Research at the American Cancer Society—led the effort to “integrate conversations with over 90 leading cancer experts to highlight current challenges, encourage a robust and diverse national research portfolio, and capture timely opportunities to advance evidence‐based approaches for all patients with cancer and for all communities.” The full article, “Blueprint for cancer research: Critical gaps and opportunities,” can be found at: https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.3322/caac.21652 All eight ACS blueprint articles are available here: https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.3322/(ISSN)1542-4863.ACS_Cancer_Control_Blueprints