When:
Thursday, March 21, 2019
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM CT
Where: Robert H Lurie Medical Research Center, Baldwin Auditorium, 303 E. Superior, Chicago, IL 60611 map it
Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students
Contact:
Vanessa Hughes
(312) 503-5229
Group: Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics Seminar Series
Category: Lectures & Meetings
The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Departmental Seminar Series presents:
Anthony G. Letai, MD, PHD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Associate Professor of Medicine, Hematologic Neoplasia/Malignancies
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
If a chemotherapeutic effectively kills cancer cells in a patient, the chances are very good that it did so via the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. How primed mitochondria are to undergo apoptosis critically impacts cell fate after treatment, and be measured by BH3 profiling. Both baseline BH3 profiling as well as BH3 profiling following short ex vivo drug treatments (dynamic BH3 profiling) yield information that can predict in vivo response. Our strategy relies on rapid measurements of drug-induced apoptotic signaling at the mitochondrion with BH3 profiling. These rapid measurements obviate the need for culture of cancer cells beyond 24 hours, a very significant challenge in other ex vivo strategies. Here I will describe how BH3 profiling can be incorporated into a modern functional precision strategy, with the ultimate goal being rationally designed, personalized combination therapies.