Stephanie Wang (LAUFFENBURGER LAB)

Tumor/Macrophage Crosstalk in Ovarian Cancer Kinase Inhibitor Resistance

Although several subtypes of ovarian cancer are known to exhibit dysregulated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling, clinical trials of kinase inhibitors for treating them have not seen much success. We aim to investigate if this can be explained in part by the existence of early adaptive resistance mechanisms. A systems-level understanding of resistance in the context of ovarian cancer cells, as well as extracellular cues from tumor-associated macrophages, may inform the design of novel and synergistic combination therapies.

Alison Tisdale (WITTRUP LAB)

Sso7d Fusion Proteins as Novel EGFR Antagonists

Dysregulated EGFR signaling contributes to the development and progression of a number of cancers, and limited clinical success of targeted protein therapies underlies a need for more efficacious agents. My project aims to develop a new class of EGFR antagonists utilizing binding moieties based on the hyperstable Sso7d protein scaffold. This talk will focus on development of the novel EGFR binding proteins and preliminary characterization of in vitro potency when used as antibody fusions.