DCC Grand Rounds with Cathy, Mendelsohn, PhD
Presenting: Role of nuclear receptors in bladder cancer
Dr. Mendelsohn obtained a BS in Microbiology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She obtained a PhD in Microbiology at Columbia University Medical Center, working in Dr. Vincent Racaniello's lab where she cloned the human Poliovirus receptor. Her postdoctoral studies in Pierre Chambon's lab, at the Universite麓 Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg France were focused on Retinoic acid receptors and their role in development, studies which were continued in the lab of Jane Dodd at Columbia University looking at the role of retinoids in urinary tract development.
Her research explores how the urothelium鈥攁 protective lining in the urinary tract鈥攎aintains normal function and responds to injury or chronic inflammation, which can lead to cancer-like changes. The team has identified key regulators, such as the nuclear receptor Pparg and retinoid signaling, that drive healthy urothelial differentiation and suppress harmful basal/squamous changes often seen in invasive bladder cancers. Their recent work demonstrates that a combination therapy using rosiglitazone (a Pparg activator) and trametinib (a MEK inhibitor) not only halts tumor growth in a mouse model but also restores healthy urothelial tissue, with clinical trials now in progress.
Dr. Mendelsohn will be presenting "Role of nuclear receptors in bladder cancer."
