Rosemary Foster, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital
Identification and Characterization of the Ovarian Cancer Stem Cell
Cancer stem cells have recently been identified in some solid tumors and are thought to drive tumor formation. Most tumors likely contain rare subpopulations of stem-like cells that would serve as critical targets of more clinically effective therapies. Our research experiments are designed to provide both convincing evidence of the existence of the ovarian cancer stem cell and initial characterization of the stem cell population. The isolation and characterization of a purified ovarian cancer stem cell population will provide new information about fundamental ovarian cancer biology leading to identification of specific therapeutic targets and development of more intelligent treatment strategies.