Events Calendar

USC Physical Sciences in Oncology Monthly Seminar Series

Speaker: Dr. Jorge Nieva, Clinical Hematologist and Oncologist, Department of Oncology, Billings Clinic

Talk Title: Cancer Metastasis and the Fluid Biopsy

Abstract: Prognostic serum markers in cancer therapy have existed for decades primarily as protein based tumor markers. While providing information on prognosis they have failed to inform treating physicians on the evolution of cancer. The advent of technology that permits the re-capture and analysis of tumor cells allows the study of cancer cell phenotypic and genotypic changes over the natural history of the disease. We have developed a platform for the capture and analysis of epithelial cancer cells from the circulation that provides a significant advance over existing technological platforms. This seminar will review the history of protein based cancer biomarkers, describe the existing and future technology platforms for analysis of epithelial cells in circulation and describe the future uses of this technology both in drug development and clinical cancer care.

Biography: USC was selected to establish a $16 million cancer research center as part of a new strategy against the disease by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and its National Cancer Institute. The new center is one of 12 in the nation to receive the designation. During the five-year initiative, the Physical Sciences-Oncology Centers will take new, nontraditional approaches to cancer research by studying the physical laws and principles of cancer; evolution and the evolutionary theory of cancer; information coding, decoding, transfer and translation in cancer; and ways to de-convolute cancer’s complexity. As part of the outreach component of this grant, the Center for Applied Molecular Medicine is hosting a monthly seminar series.

Host: Center for Applied Molecular Medicine

Location: Clinical Science Center (CSC) - #250 Harkness Auditorium

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Yvonne Suarez