Prof. Douglas Hanahan
Full Professor, EPFL
is Director of the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (Suisse de Recherche Expérimentale sur le Cancer, ISREC), and Professor of Molecular Oncology in the School of Life Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL). Hanahan received a bachelor’s degree in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1976, and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University in 1983, where he was elected to the prestigious position of Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows. He worked at the legendary Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York first as a graduate student and then as a faculty member. Subsequently he spent twenty years as a Professor in the preeminent University of California at San Francisco before moving to EPFL in 2009. Hanahan’s accomplishments have been recognized by his election to several honorific societies, as a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2007), and as a member of the Institute of Medicine of the US National Academies (2008), of the US National Academy of Science (2009), and of the European Molecular Biology Organization (2010).
ISREC , School of Life Sciences Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale (EPFL)
SV 2815 (Bâtiment SV)
Station 19
CH-1015 Lausanne
Tel: +41 21 693 06 58
Email:
Identification and validation of microRNAs important for pancreatic cancer liver metastasis
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal human cancers worldwide due to the development of aggressive metastases; prognosis for metastatic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (PNET) is also bleak. We have previously identified a miR signature common to PNET liver metastases and a small subset of primary tumors, suggesting that propensity to metastasize may be determined early in tumorigenesis. Using a pancreas-specific adeno-associated virus 8 (AAV8) delivery system, selected miR candidates from this signature will be expressed in a mouse model of PNET and their ability to enhance liver metastasis will be assessed. In addition, an in vivo forward genetic screen using an AAV8-miR library will be performed in the PNET model and in a poorly metastatic mouse PDAC model, seeking to identify additional pro-metastatic miRs. This project will provide insight into the role of miRs in pancreatic cancer metastasis and may aid development of miR-based therapies to block this deadly process.
is Director of the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (Suisse de Recherche Expérimentale sur le Cancer, ISREC), and Professor of Molecular Oncology in the School of Life Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL). Hanahan received a bachelor’s degree in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1976, and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University in 1983, where he was elected to the prestigious position of Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows. He worked at the legendary Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York first as a graduate student and then as a faculty member. Subsequently he spent twenty years as a Professor in the preeminent University of California at San Francisco before moving to EPFL in 2009. Hanahan’s accomplishments have been recognized by his election to several honorific societies, as a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2007), and as a member of the Institute of Medicine of the US National Academies (2008), of the US National Academy of Science (2009), and of the European Molecular Biology Organization (2010).