Solid Tumors: From Engineered Macrophages for Anti-tumor Immunity to Genome Instability
Event details
| Date | 10.04.2023 |
| Hour | 09:00 › 10:00 |
| Speaker | Prof. Dennis E. Discher, University of Pennsyvania, Philadelphia, PA (USA) |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
BIOENGINEERING SEMINAR
Abstract:
Macrophages are abundant in solid tumors and typically associate with poor prognosis, but macrophage clusters in tumor nests have also been reported as beneficial even though dispersed macrophages would have more contacts with cancer cells. Here, by maximally engineering phagocytic activity and maximizing macrophage numbers, we discover cooperative phagocytosis by cell clusters in rapidly growing immuno-tumoroids and solid tumors in vivo. The results fit the calculus of proliferation-versus-engulfment, and rheological measurements and molecular perturbations provide a basis for understanding phagocytic disruption of a tumor’s cohesive forces in soft cellular phases. We will finish with ongoing work on chromosome instability that predominates in solid tumors and implications for immune interactions.
Bio:
Dennis E. Discher, Ph.D., is Robert D. Bent Professor and Director of the NCI-Physical Sciences Oncology Center/Project.
Discher began at Penn in 1996 after a PhD at UC Berkeley & UC San Francisco and following an NSF Fellowship in computational biophysics in British Columbia. His lab focused first on membrane biophysics and polymer mimetics for solid tumor therapies, and then discovered matrix elasticity effects on stem cell differentiation and nucleus mechanosensing. Recent efforts focus on mechanobiology of DNA damage and genome variation, as well as ‘self’ pathways in macrophage attack of solid tumors. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine, the US National Academy of Engineering, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and on the Editorial Board of Science.
Zoom link for attending remotely: https://epfl.zoom.us/j/66362786747
Abstract:
Macrophages are abundant in solid tumors and typically associate with poor prognosis, but macrophage clusters in tumor nests have also been reported as beneficial even though dispersed macrophages would have more contacts with cancer cells. Here, by maximally engineering phagocytic activity and maximizing macrophage numbers, we discover cooperative phagocytosis by cell clusters in rapidly growing immuno-tumoroids and solid tumors in vivo. The results fit the calculus of proliferation-versus-engulfment, and rheological measurements and molecular perturbations provide a basis for understanding phagocytic disruption of a tumor’s cohesive forces in soft cellular phases. We will finish with ongoing work on chromosome instability that predominates in solid tumors and implications for immune interactions.
Bio:
Dennis E. Discher, Ph.D., is Robert D. Bent Professor and Director of the NCI-Physical Sciences Oncology Center/Project.
Discher began at Penn in 1996 after a PhD at UC Berkeley & UC San Francisco and following an NSF Fellowship in computational biophysics in British Columbia. His lab focused first on membrane biophysics and polymer mimetics for solid tumor therapies, and then discovered matrix elasticity effects on stem cell differentiation and nucleus mechanosensing. Recent efforts focus on mechanobiology of DNA damage and genome variation, as well as ‘self’ pathways in macrophage attack of solid tumors. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine, the US National Academy of Engineering, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and on the Editorial Board of Science.
Zoom link for attending remotely: https://epfl.zoom.us/j/66362786747
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free