Events Calendar

USC Physical Sciences and Oncology Center Monthly Seminar Series

Speaker: Donald Ingber M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Vascular Biology, Harvard Medical School, Professor of Bioengineering, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Founding Director, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

Talk Title: Can Cancer Be Reversed by Engineering the Tumor Microenvironment?”

Abstract: This presentation will summarize studies carried out by my research group over the past thirty years that are based on the belief that cancer is a disease of developmental control, and that the production of cancer stem cells, epithelial-mesenchymal transitions, angiogenesis and unrestrained cell growth that drive tumor formation and metastatic progression result from abnormal alterations of the tissue microenvironment that feed back to influence gene expression. This view is supported by the finding that cancer cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis can be influenced by altering non-genetic environmental factors, such as extracellular matrix and mechanical forces, and by theoretical and experimental studies which suggest that regulatory stimuli must simultaneously perturb multiple genes in the genome-wide gene regulatory network to induce cell fate switching. The lecture will review this work, and present more recent experimental findings that support the possibility of developing cancer-normalizing therapeutics.

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: USC Physical Sciences in Oncology Center

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

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Kristina Gerber