Investigators

Summary

Despite high prevalence and mortality rates, few research programs focus on breast cancer liver metastasis and little is known about the impact of metastatic breast cancer cells on the liver microenvironment. My research program will fill these gaps in knowledge by testing the impact of breast cancer cell secreted factors on the liver metastatic microenvironment with the overall goal of identifying targetable pathways to enhance immune cell presence and activation at this deadly metastatic site. 

Current research in my lab builds on my postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Colorado where I demonstrated that metabolites of tumor cell heme degradation are immune modulatory in breast cancer lung and lymph node metastasis. These projects are supported by an NIH/NCI-R00 that tests the impact of tumor cell heme metabolism on recruited and tissue resident immune cells in the metastatic liver. This work will also follow-up on preliminary evidence that suggests heme metabolism may support a global metabolic re-programming in metastatic breast cancer cells that allows survival in the metabolically active liver microenvironment. These studies will serve as a launchpad for my independent program that will continue to assess the effects of breast tumor cell signaling on the metastatic microenvironment. 

Hillman Cancer Center (HCC) provides an exceptional environment for the development of my research program. I plan to take advantage of the expertise of HCC researchers in fields such as immunometabolism, tumor metabolism, breast cancer biology and treatment, and tumor immunology. Since my research bridges the focus of several HCC programs, I will accomplish this goal by participating in events hosted by and building collaborations with scientists from multiple programs such as the Cancer Biology, Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapeutic, Genome Stability, and Cancer Therapeutics Programs. I also hope to develop strong working relationships with clinical breast cancer researchers, such as Drs. Julia Foldi and Adam Brufsky, and members of the Immunotherapy and Drug Development Center that can provide insight and assistance as promising laboratory findings are developed for translation to the clinic. The outstanding HCC Shared Resources, including the Animal Facility, Biostatistics Facility, Cytometry Facility, Translational Pathology Imaging Laboratory, and Translational Oncologic Pathology Services will be instrumental as I address my research aims.