Research Fellow
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute / Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
I am a research fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA. I am interested in exploring tumor heterogeneity in various pediatric cancers, in particular sarcoma and brain tumors. I earned my PhD at the University of Zürich, CH, under the mentorship of Prof. Beat Schäfer, where I utilized single-cell RNA sequencing and mass cytometry to characterize the cellular and molecular landscape of pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma. By phenotypic screening, I identified a drug combination that inhibits tumor growth by promoting differentiation into myocyte-like cells.
My current research in Boston combines computational and experimental biology to investigate the causes and consequences of cellular and spatial tumor heterogeneity. My work revolves around two primary research questions. First, I am investigating how tumor heterogeneity influences treatment response by profiling matched brain tumors at diagnosis and relapse to study transcriptional and spatial reorganization before and after treatment. My aim is to identify emerging cellular states that could reveal new therapeutic targets. Second, I am expanding existing single-cell datasets into a comprehensive tumor atlas encompassing hundreds of pediatric brain and solid tumors, spanning all major molecular subgroups and anatomical regions. My goal is to identify shared cellular origins, developmental trajectories, patterns of intratumoral heterogeneity, functional equivalents in the developing human tissues, and differences in the composition and interactions with normal infiltrating cells. Ultimately, I will leverage this dataset to identify therapeutic strategies that restore normal cellular differentiation.
My long-term goal is to become a principal investigator in sarcoma research at an academic medical center. I am particularly interested in the role of cellular interactions driving tumor progression, with a particular focus on the role of neuronal signaling in pediatric solid tumors.
Disclosure information not submitted.
Thursday, November 14, 2024
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM PST
