The study of PARP inhibitor resistance using genetically engineered mouse models for BRCA1/2-mutated breast cancer

A Lola and John Grace Distinguised Lecture in Cancer Research
Ordinarily this seminar will also be televised to AGORA + Geneva University => however at this time it will only be via ZOOM.

Sven Rottenberg, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ECVP
Institute of Animal Pathology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Switzerland

From 1999-2004 Sven Rottenberg received a dual education in veterinary pathology (Dipl. ECVP) and molecular biology (PhD) at the University of Bern (Switzerland). In 2004 he joined the group of Piet Borst at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) in Amsterdam where he became a tenured staff member (associate professor level) in 2012. At the NKI Sven Rottenberg established a new research focus: the study of anti-cancer drug resistance using genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) of human cancer. In 2014 he returned to the University of Bern as head of the Institute of Animal Pathology. The focus of the Rottenberg group is to understand the underlying mechanisms of resistance to anti-cancer therapies, including both radio- and chemotherapy. His group has identified various mechanisms of PARP inhibitor resistance (e.g. loss of PARG or a dysfunctional 53BP1-REV7-shieldin-CST pathway), and thereby generated novel insights into basic mechanisms of the DNA damage response. In addition, using functional genetic screens in haploid cells, his group found LRRC8A/D proteins to be relevant factors in platinum drug resistance and ERCC6L2 as a useful marker to predict radiotherapy response. Moreover, the Rottenberg group has generated unique mouse models to study residual disease and they have pioneered the use of 3D cancer organoids to study therapy escape.

The research of the Rottenberg group is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the European Research Council, the Swiss Krebsliga, and the Wilhelm Sander Foundation.