The Power of Persistence—Women Transforming Cancer Research and Care

Tuesday, March 12, 2024, from 12:30 pm to 6:30 pm at the Salk Institute
Hosted by the Lustgarten Foundation and the Salk Institute

Speakers

Dafna Bar-Sagi, NYU Langone
Dafna Bar-Sagi is executive vice president and vice dean for science, chief scientific officer of NYU Langone Health. Bar-Sagi is a cancer biologist recognized for her work on pathophysiological processes that drive the initiation and progression of mutant Ras tumors. She is known particularly for her studies defining critical nodes in the pathway that couples extracellular signals to Ras activation, and for the elucidation of Ras oncogene-dependent mechanisms that enhance tumor cell fitness via immune evasion and metabolic adaptation.

Lisa M. Coussens, Oregon Health and Science University
Lisa M. Coussens is Chairwoman of the Department of Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology, and Deputy Director for Basic & Translational Research in the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Sciences University, and holds the Hildegard Lamfrom Endowed Chair in Basic Science. Coussens’ research focuses on dissecting the roles of normal immune cells in regulating various facets of solid tumor development, identifying leukocyte activities that are co-opted by early tumors to support ongoing cancer development, and in understanding the role leukocytes play in regulating responses to cytotoxic, targeted and immune-based therapies. In recognition of her research contributions for revealing underlying mechanisms of cancer development, Coussens’ has been acknowledged with multiple awards in recognition of her scientific contributions.

Stephanie K. Dougan, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School
Stephanie Dougan is an associate professor of cancer immunology and virology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and an associate professor of immunology at Harvard Medical School. She received her PhD in immunology from Harvard University where she studied lipid antigen presentation. She performed a postdoctoral fellowship with Hidde Ploegh at Whitehead Institute, where she became adept in somatic cell nuclear transfer and embryo manipulations for the purpose of generating transnuclear and CRISPR genome-modified mice. Dougan joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 2014, where her lab uses unique mouse models to study the immune response to tumors such as pancreatic cancer that do not induce a CD8 T cell response at baseline.

Dannielle Engle, Salk Institute
Dannielle Engle is assistant professor in the Regulatory Biology Laboratory and a member of the Salk Cancer Center faculty. She seeks to identify biomarkers and therapeutic targets that will allow for earlier diagnoses and more effective treatments. The research in the Engle lab focuses on the intersection between inflammation and cancer in the pancreas, building upon Engle’s discovery that the carbohydrate biomarker, CA19-9, causes pancreatitis and accelerates tumorigenesis using genetically engineered mouse models. In addition, Engle’s lab is also testing the therapeutic efficacy of CA19-9 targeted therapy for the treatment and interception of pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.

Diana Hargreaves, Salk Institute
Diana Hargreaves is assistant professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory and the Richard Heyman and Anne Daigle Endowed Developmental Chair. She is a molecular biologist who studies a particular epigenetic regulator, the BAF complex, which uses energy to unpack and unwind DNA from structural proteins to alter DNA accessibility and in turn, gene transcription. Her group has identified novel BAF complex variants and new roles for the BAF complex in cancer, inflammation, and pluripotency.

Elizabeth M. Jaffee, John Hopkins University School of Medicine
Elizabeth Jaffee is an internationally recognized expert in cancer immunology and pancreatic cancer. She is deputy director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, co-director of the Skip Viragh Pancreatic Cancer Center, and associate director of the Bloomberg Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Her recent work has focused on developing novel biomarker driven immunotherapy clinical trials to dissect the complex inflammatory signals within the tumor microenvironment. Through collaborations with computational biologists, her team has identified a number of immune suppressive signals that regulate pancreatic cancer development and progression. Most recently, she was appointed chair of President Biden’s cancer panel.

Ashley L. Kiemen, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Ashley Kiemen is an assistant professor of pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in philosophy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a PhD in chemical & biomolecular engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Her research focuses on using quantitative 3D tissue mapping approaches to study the development and invasion patterns of pancreatic cancer. Towards this, she has developed and employed numerous techniques for digital 3D reconstruction of tissues with spatial integration of immunohistochemistry, transcriptomics and genomics.

Marina Pasca di Magliano, University of Michigan
Marina Pasca di Magliano is a Maud T. Lane professor of Surgical Immunology, professor of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, and professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan. Her current work addresses the cellular cross-talk between tumor cells and the surrounding microenvironment, with a particular interest in the immune regulation of pancreatic cancer. Her laboratory uses primary human samples and organoid cultures to complement the mechanistic work in genetically engineered mouse models, in the belief that complementary and diverse systems are required to recapitulate the complexity of the human disease.

Julie L. Sutcliffe, University of California Davis
Julie Sutcliffe is a professor of internal medicine and biomedical engineering at the University of California, Davis. She serves as the co-director of the Center for Molecular and Genomic imaging and as the director of radiochemistry. Sutcliffe is the leader of a multidisciplinary translational research team that is recognized nationally for it contributions to the field of Molecular Imaging and Theranostics. Sutcliffe is the principal investigator of four active clinical trials and is the leader of the UC Davis Lustgarten Foundation/ StandupToCancer Pancreatic Cancer Collective Research Team.

Margaret A. Tempero, University of California San Franciso
Margaret Tempero is a professor of medicine and director of the UCSF Pancreas Center and editor-in-chief of JNCCN. Her research career has focused on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, especially in the area of investigational therapeutics. Tempero has served on the ASCO Board of Directors and as ASCO President. She currently serves on the ASCO Conquer Cancer Foundation Board. She is or has been on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Lustgarten Foundation, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, the V Foundation, The Alberta Canada Cancer Board, and the EORTC.

Christina Towers, Salk Institute
Christina Towers is assistant professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory. She is a cancer cell biologist using a combination of DNA-editing techniques, light-based genetic manipulation (optogenetics), three-dimensional miniature organs (“organoids”), and detailed imaging to uncover how cancer cells recycle both their own nutrients and the power-generating structures called mitochondria in order to survive. Her goal is to work with local clinicians to develop targeted cancer therapies that can block the cancer cell recycling pathways that allow these cells to survive.