Calendar

Sep
6
Fri
2019
CCSB Seminar: Identifying and Rationally Modulating Cellular Drivers of Tumor Response @ Clark Center S360
CCSB Seminar: Identifying and Rationally Modulating Cellular Drivers of Tumor Response
Sep 6 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm Clark Center S360
CCSB Seminar: Identifying and Rationally Modulating Cellular Drivers of Tumor Response @ Clark Center S360

Alex K. Shalek, PhD
Pfizer-Laubach Career Development Associate Professor
Institute for Medical Engineering & Science
Department of Chemistry and Koch Institute
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract: While several methods exist for sampling tissues in clinical contexts, without high-fidelity tools for comprehensively profiling them, we are both limited in our capacity to understand how constituent cells and their interactions impact prognosis, and to select and develop precision therapeutics. Recent years have witnessed transformative and intersecting advances in nanofabrication and molecular biology that now enable deep profiling of low-input samples. Collectively, these afford new and exciting opportunities to study cellular heterogeneity, starting from the level of the single cell, and may unlock the diagnostic, prognostic, and discovery potential of clinical isolates. Illustratively, I will introduce how we can leverage single-cell genomic approaches – and, in particular, single-cell RNA-Seq – to explore the extensive functional diversity between cells, uncovering, from the “bottom-up,” distinct cell states and their molecular drivers. Moreover, I will discuss high-throughput experimental strategies and demonstrate, in the context of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, how they can be leveraged to achieve the statistical power necessary to reconstruct intracellular circuits, enumerate and redefine cell states and types, and transform our understanding of cellular decision-making in health and disease on a genomic scale.

Bio: Alex K. Shalek is currently the Pfizer-Laubach Career Development Associate Professor at MIT, as well as a Core Member of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), an Associate Professor of Chemistry, and an Extramural Member of The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. He is also an Institute Member of the Broad Institute, an Associate Member of the Ragon Institute, an Assistant in Immunology at MGH, and an Instructor in Health Sciences and Technology at HMS. His research is directed towards the development and application of new technologies that facilitate understanding of how cells collectively perform systems-level functions in healthy and diseased states. Dr. Shalek received his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Columbia University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in chemical physics under the guidance of Hongkun Park, and performed postdoctoral training under Hongkun Park and Aviv Regev (Broad/MIT). To date, his interdisciplinary research has focused on realizing and utilizing nanoscale manipulation and measurement technologies to examine how small components (molecules, cells) drive systems of vast complexity (cellular responses, population behaviors).

Oct
23
Wed
2019
Cancer Early Detection Seminar Series - Michael Shen, Ph.D.
Cancer Early Detection Seminar Series – Michael Shen, Ph.D.
Cancer Early Detection Seminar Series - Michael Shen, Ph.D.

Cancer Early Detection Seminar

“Best Practices in Hip Imaging”

Michael Shen, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Genetics and Development, Urology and Systems Biology
Columbia University Medical Center

ABSTRACT
TBD

_____________________________________________
Hosted by
Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD<https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/sanjiv-gambhir>

Sponsored by
The Canary Center and the Stanford Cancer Institute
Stanford University

If you would like to be included on the email distribution list for weekly reminders, contact Ashley Williams (ashleylw.at.stanford.edu)

RSVP and more info at: https://www.onlineregistrationcenter.com/register/222/page1.asp?m=298&c=41

Jan
23
Thu
2020
Early Detection Seminar Series - Victoria Seewaldt, M.D. @ Beckman Center, Munzer Auditorium (B060)
Early Detection Seminar Series – Victoria Seewaldt, M.D.
Jan 23 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm Beckman Center, Munzer Auditorium (B060)
Early Detection Seminar Series - Victoria Seewaldt, M.D. @ Beckman Center, Munzer Auditorium (B060)

CEDSS: “Strategies to Identify Aggressive Breast Cancer Biology in Black and Latina Women”

Victoria Seewaldt, MD
Ruth Ziegler Professor and Chair, Department of Population Sciences
Associate Director for Population Sciences Research, Comprehensive Cancer Center
City of Hope

Beckman Center, Munzer Auditorium (B060)
11:00am – 12:00pm Seminar & Discussion
12:00pm – 12:15pm Reception & Light Refreshments
RSVP here: https://www.onlineregistrationcenter.com/VictoriaSeewaldt

ABSTRACT

Over 90% of breast cancer is cured; yet there remain highly aggressive breast cancers that develop rapidly and are extremely difficult to treat, much less prevent. Examples are triple-negative breast cancer in Black/African American women and luminal B breast cancers in Black/African Americans and Latinas. Breast cancers that rapidly develop between breast imaging are called “interval cancers”. Here we aim to investigate biologically aggressive precancerous breast lesions and their matched invasive breast cancers in women of diverse race and ethnicity. Our team has the unique ability to perform single cell in situ transcriptional profiling in combination with dynamic and spatial genomics/proteomics; this allows us to identify multi-dimensional spatial and temporal relationships that drive the transition from biologically aggressive pre-cancer to interval breast cancer.

 

ABOUT

Victoria Seewaldt, M.D., is an accomplished clinician and researcher who’s devoted to improving the lives of her patients and the community at large. She has led community outreach education efforts on cancer prevention through personal wellbeing and directed research aimed at finding biomarkers that can be used for early cancer detection, particularly triple-negative breast cancers that are especially resistant to treatment.

At City of Hope, Dr. Seewaldt will direct efforts to provide breast cancer education, free breast cancer screening and treatment, mentorship of young minority scholars, and a forum for community partnered trials. Clinically, Dr. Seewaldt aims to empower women at high breast cancer risk to be full partners in developing wellness strategies to promote personal health.

Dr. Seewaldt received her medical degree from the University of California, Davis, and completed her residency and clinical fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle. She then pursued a medical oncology fellowship with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and then became an assistant professor at Ohio State University. Afterwards, she transferred to Duke University, where she held various clinical, academic and leadership roles in its School of Medicine and Comprehensive Cancer Center — most recently as a professor, co-leader of the breast and ovarian cancer program and head of the cancer breast prevention program — before joining City of Hope.