David Pepin, PhDMassachusetts General Hospital AAV9 gene therapy using a novel engineered MIS to treat ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer tumors are made up mostly of cells that respond well to chemotherapy, but a minority of stem-like cells survive treatment and ultimately lead to chemoresistant recurrence. However, this type of cancer stem cell is inhibited by […]
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Melissa Merritt, PhDUniversity of Hawaii Cancer Center Obesity-related factors and ovarian cancer survival Women diagnosed with ovarian cancer have a poor prognosis, and there are currently no recommendations for lifestyle modifications that may influence survival after a diagnosis. Dr. Merritt will evaluate whether obesity-related factors, including Body Mass Index (BMI), waist circumference, physical activity, and […]
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Erin George, MDUniversity of Pennsylvania2016 Skacel Family Scholar Targeting the ATR/CHK1 pathway in high grade serous ovarian cancer with ATR inhibitors New treatments are needed for recurrent ovarian cancer, a subset of which is more aggressive than the original cancer and has no effective treatment. Aggressive recurrent cancers rely on DNA repair pathways, involving proteins […]
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Jia Liu, PhDUniversity of Arkansas for Medical Science2016 Cookie Laughlin Bridge Funding Award Myxoma Virus in Combination with Chemotherapy for Treatment of Ovarian Cancer Resistance to chemotherapy occurs in the vast majority of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer and is a major barrier for effective treatment of the disease. Additionally, cells called tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) […]
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Manish Patankar, PhDUniversity of Wisconsin2016 Lynda’s Fund Bridge Award Identifying ovarian cancer biomarkers though lineage specific assessment of immune cell transcriptome Several decades of work have focused on the liquid portion of blood samples in order to identify biomarkers for early detection of ovarian cancer. Unfortunately, no biomarkers yet identified have proved useful for revolutionizing […]
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Andrew Wilson, PhDVanderbilt University Prognostic Significance of TR3/NR4A1 Expression in Ovarian Cancer A key clinical problem in the management of advanced ovarian cancer is tumor resistance to traditional platinum drugs and to newer drugs that inhibit the PARP protein (PARPi). Dr. Wilson will investigate an innovative approach to improve the effects of platinum drugs and […]
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Varatharasa Thiviyanathan, PhDUniversity of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Multi-functional RNA Nanoparticles for targeted Delivery of Therapeutics for Ovarian Cancer Since majority of the ovarian cancer cases are detected at later stages, novel therapeutic approaches are critically needed to improve the overall survival rates. Targeted delivery of therapeutics where drugs can be delivered specifically […]
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Jill Slack-Davis, PhDUniversity of Virginia Detailed characterization of tumor initiation in a novel mouse model of high-grade serous ovarian cancer Early detection remains the best approach for successful treatment of cancer, including ovarian cancer, as patients with early stage cancer have the best chance of survival. There is an urgent need to identify specific biomarkers […]
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Erinn Rankin, PhDStanford University2016 Pape Family Pilot Study Award Targeting the hypoxic secretome in omental metastasis Mesothelial cells line the abdominal cavity and play an important role in ovarian cancer metastasis. These mesothelial cells in the presence of ovarian cancer tumors are deprived of oxygen (hypoxic) and, as a result, produce components of the hypoxia […]
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Natasa Obermajer, PhDUniversity of Pittsburgh Taming MDSC-controlled Th17-to-Treg cell conversion in ovarian cancer Regulatory T (Treg) cells are part of the immune system and have been shown in ovarian cancer to suppresses immune cell activity and prevent the immune system from fighting ovarian cancer cells. Dr. Obermajer has shown that another type of immune system […]
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