Zoom link: https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/j/95150439811?pwd=a3hOK0o0bmpkS3poTVBCbVhDNU9FZz09

(Note:  BME 690 students are expected to attend the seminar in-person).

Abstract: Metastatic disease is the leading cause of cancer related mortality across a variety of tumors. Disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) are considered the source of metastasis and they remain in a reversible non-proliferative state of dormancy resisting anti-proliferative therapies during the extended and asymptomatic periods of the minimal residual disease. Expanding our knowledge on how DTCs survive in a dormant state in their new microenvironments, how DTCs interact with the immune system, what are the signals that trigger their reactivation programs, and what are the signals responsible for long-term dormancy, may likely improve predicting patient survival rates and increase the opportunities to design therapies that will extend the remission phase.

Bio: Dr. Sosa did her career in Molecular Biology at the University of San Luis, Argentina and her undergraduate training at Leloir Institute in Argentina under the supervision of Drs. Llera and Podhajcer, where she studied the secretome of melanoma cancer. In 2005, Dr. Sosa started her Ph.D. training in Dr. Marcelo Kazanietz’s laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania (UPENN). During her training she focused on the mechanisms of action of Rac-GEFs and -GAPs in breast cancer. In 2010, Dr. Sosa joined Dr. Aguirre-Ghiso’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow at Mount Sinai Hospital. Since then, Dr. Sosa has focused on the study of minimal residual disease in an attempt to understand the mechanistic pathways in disseminated tumor cells (DTCs). In 2017, Dr. Sosa started an Assistant Professor appointment in the Department of Pharmacological Sciences at Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Sosa has published more than 25 articles and has secured several grants including: Schneider-Lesser Foundation Fellow Award, CSBC Pilot Project-Sage Bionetworks, Melanoma Research Alliance Team Science Award (Co-PI), NCI-K22, CCR Basic/Translational and Clinical Susan Komen, Melanoma Research Foundation, Breast Cancer Foundation, and The Mark Foundation (Co-PI) grants. Her lab research focuses on providing new biomarkers and treatments derived from the novel biology of dormant disease to manage minimal residual disease and prevent metastasis.

~BME Faculty Host: Dr. Luis Solorio ~