Oncology

Dr. Yitshak Zohar Ph.D., is Professor of Aerospace-Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and the BIO5 Institute. He received a B.S. and M.S. from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. at the University of Southern California. Dr. Zohar was honored with the Fellow - The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 2003; and in 2007, the University of Arizona Technology Innovation Award. Dr. Zohar's research interests are in understand the process of Cell Receptor and Surface Ligand density effects in dynamic states of adhering circulating tumor cells and the creation of a high performance microsystem for isolating circulating tumor cells. With this mission, Dr. Zohar focuses on the development of micro/nanotechnology and fabrication of microfluidic devices for biochemical/medical applications. He has developed novel surface-chemistry techniques that enable selective manipulation of surface properties of fluidic microchannels and nanoparticles. Further developing in ‘smart’ nanoparticles, with encapsulated anti-cancer drug in their core and targeting ligands on their surface, designed to specifically destroy CTCs in vivo in effort to eradicate the cancer disease is taking place. Other work being performed by the Zohar laboratory includes the controlled dissociation of fresh brain tissue into viable neurons suitable for subsequent cell culture utilizing microfluidic systems; the investigation of pollen-tube/ovule interaction, particularly the attraction and repulsion signaling processes, using a microchannel-based assay; and protein-fiber formation in microfluidic devices.

Dr. Cynthia Thomson, PhD, RD, is a Professor and Director of the Canyon Ranch Center for Prevention and Health Promotion in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. Dr. Thomson holds joint appointments in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Medicine. Her research emphasis includes dietary intervention in breast and ovarian cancer survivors, as well as behavioral interventions for weight control and metabolic regulation. Dr. Thomson received her Ph.D. from the Interdisciplinary Program in Nutritional Sciences, University of Arizona and completed NCI-sponsored post-doctoral training at the University of Arizona Cancer Center with a focus on diet and cancer prevention.

My laboratory investigates the normal biology of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR, and its family members, HER2 and ErbB3), as well as their role in transformation and metastasis. These oncogenes are a family of transmembrane tyrosine kinases that drive a wide-variety of cancers including HER2 positive and triple negative breast cancer, squamous cell lung cancer and glioblastoma. Our work focuses on kinase-independent activities of these receptors (such as modulation of calcium signaling and functions as transcriptional co-factors) and how the receptors are mis-regulated during cancer progression (by a loss of lysosomal degradation). These studies include investigations into receptor trafficking, nuclear translocation and protein-protein interactions that are unique to cancer survival and metastasis. We are currently focused on understanding how EGFR enters the retrotranslocation pathway that allows for it to traffic to the nucleus and directly affect gene transcription, as well as understanding how these events drive migration and survival. Based on these studies, we have developed peptide-based therapeutics for cancer that block protein-protein interactions that promote EGFR retrotranslocation. We are developing these peptide-based therapeutics for clinical applications through peptide stability studies including hydrocarbon stapling and mutational analyses. To promote the clinical translation of these discoveries, the biotech start-up company Arizona Cancer Therapeutics was founded in my lab at the Arizona Cancer Center. We are currently performing toxicity testing of our compounds with the goal of applying for approval from the FDA for clinical trials. These studies have been accomplished through the hard work and dedication of the over 50 undergraduate students, 2 MS and 11 PhD students who have studied in my lab since 2002.

Dr. Monika Schmelz is a Assistant Professor of Pathology and Member of the University of Arizona Lymphoma Consortium. Dr. Schmelz pursuing research on mechanisms for immune escape in aggressive lymphoma with poor survival rates. Dr. Schmelz received a 2 year award (2013-2015) from The Hope Foundation to study how tumor cells escape immunosurveillance, which is a hallmark of cancer, in aggressive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) with poor patient outcome, and how immunosurveillance can be manipulated for therapeutic purposes. ( see also link: http://pathology.arizona.edu/news/dr-monika-schmelz-recipient-2013-swog-development-award). Dr. Schmelz also is pursuing biorepository science. She received a multi-million dollar award for hosting the Biorepository for a NCI funded clinical trial. ANCHOR is a multi-site phase III clinical trial entitled “Topical or Ablative Treatment in Preventing Anal Cancer in Patients with HIV and Anal High-Grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions”. 17,385 participants will be screened to identify and to enroll 5,058 eligible participants. An estimated 314,535 biospecimens over the duration of the clinical trial (8 years) will be collected and sent to Dr. Schmelz's lab. The biorepository is an extremely important factor for the outcome of this clinical trial, since correlative translational studies on biomarkers for early detection of anal cancer development in these specimens are planned by the NCI. Keywords: Cancer, Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL), Therapeutic Biomarkers

Ian Robey, PhD, is a Research Assistant Professor with the Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, and a Full Investigator at the Arizona Cancer Center. Dr. Robey is a new investigator studying the role of pH in tumor behavior. He is interested in the mechanisms driving acid-mediated invasion and metastases and how pH modulation can be used for therapeutic purposes in cancer treatment.Dr. Robey is published in over 20 research articles ranging in immunology and cancer biology. He regularly presents his research at national meetings and conferences. He is a lecturer for the introductory biology course for Biomedical Engineering and serves as a committee member for graduate student comprehensive examinations. He is a mentor for Molecular and Cellular Biology student projects. He has been a regular attending and voting IRB member since 2008. He is a regular peer reviewer of grant proposals and manuscripts. Dr. Robey’s current research is focused on investigating the mechanisms of systemic alkalinization in tumor bearing mice to inhibit the spread of metastases. The objective of my project is to advance the preclinical findings on the effects of tumor alkalinization to promote the application of eventual clinical trials with the expectation of establishing a research program bridging integrative medicine and diagnosis/ therapy driven non-invasive imaging methodologies.

Research Interests Our objective is to define how integrin interactions within the tumor microenvironment impact prostate cancer development, hormonal resistance, and metastasis. Our approach is to understand the normal biology of the prostate gland and its microenvironment, as well as the bone environment, to inform on the mechanisms by which tumor cells remodel and use that environment to develop, acquire hormonal resistance, and metastasize. Our research is focused in three primary areas: 1) developing in vitro and in vivo models that recapitulate human disease based on clinical pathology, 2) identifying signal transduction pathway components that could serve as both clinical markers and therapeutic targets, and 3) defining the genetic/epigenetic programming involved in prostate cancer development.

Dr. Emmanuel Katsanis, MD, and his laboratory conduct basic and translational research aimed at advancing new cancer immunotherapeutic strategies. His expertise is in stem cell transplant immunology, cellular therapy, and cancer vaccine approaches.Immunity against tumors depends on complex innate and adaptive immune responses that involve the sequential mobilization of 'messenger' and 'killer' immune cells. However, despite the arsenal harbored by the immune system to ensure tumor immunosurveillance, cancers can escape immune detection and elimination. Current research in the laboratory is evaluating immuno- and chemo-immunotherapeutic strategies to promote anti-tumor immune responses following bone marrow transplantation, while investigating approaches to mitigate graft versus host effects. Keywords: Cancer Immunology, Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation