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Congrats to Osama for receiving the Peggy Ogden Women’s Health Fellowship Award

Congrats to Osama Shah for receiving the “Peggy Ogden Women’s Health Fellowship award from Foundation of Women Wellness (FWW) for his research project “Comprehensive Molecular Characterization of Cell Line Models of Invasive Lobular Breast Cancer”. FWW’s Fellowship Awards recognize and support emerging physician-scientists working in women’s health disciplines.

Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is a poorly studied subtype of breast cancer. ILC remains understudied in part due to lack of appropriate laboratory models in which to study this disease. Osama’s project is focused on performing molecular characterization of reported ILC cell lines and investigating which of these cell lines recapitulate the molecular landscape of human ILC disease towards identifying suitable models for ILC research.

Osama thanks Dr. Lee, Dr. Oesterriech, and Dr. Xavier for their outstanding mentorship.

Our paper about ESR1 mutations and breast cancer metastasis is now published in Cancer Research! 

https://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2022/01/25/0008-5472.CAN-21-2576
Zheqi (Vaciry) Li, Ph.D.

This study was led by former graduate student Vaciry Li with great efforts from many intra- and inter-group collaborations. Congratulations to all! 

In this study, we showed that context and allele-dependent transcriptome and cistrome reprogramming in ESR1 mutation cell models, which elicit diverse metastatic phenotypes related to cell-cell adhesion, cell-ECM adhesion and migration driven by increased desmosome/gap junctions, dampened TIMP3-MMP axis and Wnt pathway. Importantly, some of these pathways can pharmacologically targeted and reveals novel therapeutic strategies.  

Our new review is out now in The Lancet Healthy Longevity!

Led by PhD student Neil Carleton and senior authors Adrian Lee, Priscilla McAuliffe, and Steffi Oesterreich, we review key considerations for “right-sizing” therapy options for older women with ER+ breast cancer. With contributions from radiation, pathology, surgical oncology, radiation oncology, and medical oncology from the UPMC / Magee Women’s Hospital breast cancer group, this collaborative effort touches on optimizing quality of life along with new translational studies that may impact future treatment of these patients. 

Check it out at: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhl/article/PIIS2666-7568(21)00280-4/fulltext.  

Congrats to Ashuvinee Elangovan for her poster award at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Scientific Retreat!

Congratulations to Ashuvinee Elangovan on winning 2nd place for her poster “Loss of E-cadherin Induced IGF1R Activation as a Targetable Pathway for Invasive Lobular Breast Carcinoma” at the 33rd Annual UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Scientific Retreat held on October 12th, at the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum. Several lab members also presented their posters, including Neil Carleton, Kai Ding, Nandini Doshi, Olivia McGinn, Susrutha Puthanmadhom, Laura Savariau, Osama Shah, & Megan Yates.

Ahuvinee Elangovan

Megan Yates
Olivai McGinn
Osama Shah
Kai Ding

Congrats to Postdoc Olivia McGinn for receiving the Hillman Postdoctoral Fellowship for Innovative Cancer Research!

Olivia McGinn, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

This training program is designed to recruit postdoctoral fellows from around the country to conduct cutting edge research at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. For her project, Olivia will be investigating why invasive lobular breast carcinoma (ILC) displays a unique pattern of metastasis relative to the more common form of breast cancer, invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). Whereas both ILC and IDC metastasize to the bone, liver, and lungs, ILC displays an increased propensity to metastasize to the GI tract and reproductive organs. To study this, she is investigating the contribution of mesothelial cells in dictating ILC metastasis. Mesothelial cells are non-cancerous cells that line all organs of the body and are highly enriched in the abdominal cavity where ILC tumors metastasize to. Her goal is to identify specific mechanisms that mediate metastasis to these unique sites so that therapies can be designed to prevent it.