TheoryLab

Skin doesn’t just keep your insides on the inside. It’s home to microbes that have a very important role in your health. Could modifying the skin microbiome affect the risk, severity, or onset of skin cancer?

Dr. Julia Oh, an American Cancer Society grantee at Jackson Laboratory, is one of the leading voices in research into the role of the skin microbiome in cancer and other diseases.

She talked about how the skin microbiome impacts cancer risk and progression. And she explained why she believes that, “through the microbiome there will be a new generation of preventative and treatment strategies for managing risk and also for improving treatment response.”

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men (after skin cancer), and while it can often be treated successfully, metastatic disease remains challenging.

Lloyd Trotman, PhD—a former American Cancer Society grantee and Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory—is trying to change that.

He and his team recently developed the first genetic mouse model for the treatment and analysis of metastatic prostate cancer. Now they are seeking to translate their findings into patients to “turn lethal prostate cancer into a curable disease.”*

In this interview he talks about the challenges of metastatic prostate cancer, the exciting discoveries he and his team have made, and how his work is getting closer to patients.

*https://www.cshl.edu/research/faculty-staff/lloyd-trotman/

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men (after skin cancer), and while it can often be treated successfully, metastatic disease remains challenging.

Lloyd Trotman, PhD—a former American Cancer Society grantee and Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory—is trying to change that.

He and his team recently developed the first genetic mouse model for the treatment and analysis of metastatic prostate cancer. Now they are seeking to translate their findings into patients to “turn lethal prostate cancer into a curable disease.”*

In this interview he talks about the challenges of metastatic prostate cancer, the exciting discoveries he and his team have made, and how his work is getting closer to patients.

*https://www.cshl.edu/research/faculty-staff/lloyd-trotman/

If every cell in your body has the same DNA, the same 20,000 genes, then why are the cells different? Why are muscle cells different than neurons? The answer is epigenetics—changes in gene activity governed by influences outside the genes themselves.

Bradley Bernstein, MD, PhD, is one of the world’s leading experts on epigenetics and cancer. In this episode he covered a lot of ground, but he used clear examples to help us understand what epigenetics is and why it’s critical to attacking cancer.

3:50 – There’s a copy of your genome in every cell. How do you fit a 6-foot long string of DNA inside a nucleus that’s about 6 microns? Epigenetics!

8:30 – “Cancer has classically been thought of as a genetic disease, but…”

16:20 – On a new technology his team developed that enables them to see which genes are on and which genes are off in individual leukemia cells

19:45 – On how this tool could be used in therapies.

23:45 – On his lab’s progress over the past 15 years, as they’ve moved from studying the genome in yeast to breaking new ground in brain and gastrointestinal tumors

29:20 – On the impact of ACS funding on his lab

30:55 – What would he say to patients and caregivers dealing with cancer?

Dr. Bernstein is an institute member at the Broad Institute and a professor in the Department of Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He co-directs the Broad’s Epigenomics Program. He’s the Bernard and Mildred Kayden Endowed MGH Research Institute Chair. And he’s an American Cancer Society Research Professor.

If every cell in your body has the same DNA, the same 20,000 genes, then why are the cells different? Why are muscle cells different than neurons? The answer is epigenetics—changes in gene activity governed by influences outside the genes themselves.

Bradley Bernstein, MD, PhD, is one of the world’s leading experts on epigenetics and cancer. In this episode he covered a lot of ground, but he used clear examples to help us understand what epigenetics is and why it’s critical to attacking cancer.

3:50 – There’s a copy of your genome in every cell. How do you fit a 6-foot long string of DNA inside a nucleus that’s about 6 microns? Epigenetics!

8:30 – “Cancer has classically been thought of as a genetic disease, but…”

16:20 – On a new technology his team developed that enables them to see which genes are on and which genes are off in individual leukemia cells

19:45 – On how this tool could be used in therapies.

23:45 – On his lab’s progress over the past 15 years, as they’ve moved from studying the genome in yeast to breaking new ground in brain and gastrointestinal tumors

29:20 – On the impact of ACS funding on his lab

30:55 – What would he say to patients and caregivers dealing with cancer?

Dr. Bernstein is an institute member at the Broad Institute and a professor in the Department of Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He co-directs the Broad’s Epigenomics Program. He’s the Bernard and Mildred Kayden Endowed MGH Research Institute Chair. And he’s an American Cancer Society Research Professor.

Ovarian cancer is actually an umbrella term describing a variety of cancers that often originate, not in the ovary, but in the fallopian tube. And that has important implications for the early detection and treatment of cancer.

Dr. Joanna Burdette leads a lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago that integrates “imaging, drug discovery, microfluidics, and basic biology to try and understand how and where ovarian cancers originate.”

4:00 – On profound changes to our understanding of ovarian cancer in recent years and the challenges of early detection

12:20 – On a device she and her collaborators built: a complete 3D model of a female reproductive system that has a 28-day menstrual cycle, facilitating research into cells that respond biologically like they would in the human body

21:30 – On how ACS funding impacted her career

23:45 – Her message for ovarian cancer patients and caregivers

Dr. Burdette is Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Ovarian cancer is actually an umbrella term describing a variety of cancers that often originate, not in the ovary, but in the fallopian tube. And that has important implications for the early detection and treatment of cancer.

Dr. Joanna Burdette leads a lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago that integrates “imaging, drug discovery, microfluidics, and basic biology to try and understand how and where ovarian cancers originate.”

4:00 – On profound changes to our understanding of ovarian cancer in recent years and the challenges of early detection

12:20 – On a device she and her collaborators built: a complete 3D model of a female reproductive system that has a 28-day menstrual cycle, facilitating research into cells that respond biologically like they would in the human body

21:30 – On how ACS funding impacted her career

23:45 – Her message for ovarian cancer patients and caregivers

Dr. Burdette is Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Katherine Cook, an assistant professor at Wake Forest School of Medicine, has dedicated her career to exploring the association between obesity and breast cancer risk and outcomes.

Here, she describes work showing that what moms eat can have a long-term impact on the health of daughters that can increase their breast cancer risk.

She also talks about how the timing of weight gain can impact breast cancer risk, how obesity is associated with poorer response to chemotherapy, and how weight loss can lower breast cancer risk.

And she described recent work showing that breast-specific microbiome populations are significantly affected by diet.

Katherine Cook, an assistant professor at Wake Forest School of Medicine, has dedicated her career to exploring the association between obesity and breast cancer risk and outcomes.

Here, she describes work showing that what moms eat can have a long-term impact on the health of daughters that can increase their breast cancer risk.

She also talks about how the timing of weight gain can impact breast cancer risk, how obesity is associated with poorer response to chemotherapy, and how weight loss can lower breast cancer risk.

And she described recent work showing that breast-specific microbiome populations are significantly affected by diet.

Andras Heczey’s research focuses on directing the immune system to attack cancer cells in pediatric patients. He was the first to show that natural killer T cells could be used, once modified, to attack neuroblastoma cells.

Dr. Heczey—assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital—talked about his ongoing clinical trial, the challenges of taking research out of the lab and into the clinic to benefit patients, and what message he would share with cancer patients and their families.