Research Projects

Shuang Huang, Ph.D.

Title of project:

Improving Immunotherapy Effectiveness in Ovarian Cancer by Mitigating Immunosuppressive Tumor Microenvironment

Description of project:

Professor, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, UF College of Medicine
UF Health Cancer Center Research Program: Mechanisms of Oncogenesis

This project aims to develop a therapeutic strategy that can increase the responsiveness of ovarian tumors to immune checkpoint blockade-based immunotherapies. The team will test the hypothesis that docosahexaenoic acid, a commonly used dietary supplement, enhances responses to immunotherapy treatment in preclinical mouse models.

Maryam Rahman M.D.

Title of project:

The Cathy D. Perry Trust Sponsored by Ocala Royal Dames for Cancer Research Advancing Precision Medicine: Integrating Laser Ablation and High-Throughput Screening for Personalized Therapeutics in Brain Tumor Treatment

Description of project:

Associate Professor, Lillian S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery, UF College of Medicine
UF Health Cancer Center Research Program: Immuno-Oncology and Microbiome

This project will use a high-throughput screening method developed by scientists at The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology to determine which drugs are efficacious against brain tumors in samples from human patients. Next, using preclinical mouse models, the team will test the ability to concentrate these drugs in brain tumors after laser ablation, which results in a window where the blood-brain barrier is open.

Marilena Tauro, PhD

Title of project:

Defining the impact of autophagy blockade on triple negative breast cancer and remodeling of the tumor-immune microenvironment in the primary and metastatic setting: H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Inc.

Description of project:

Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) is the deadliest subtype of breast cancer owing to its inherent high degree of heterogeneity, aggressive nature, and lack of long-lasting effective treatment options [1]. Sadly, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime (American Cancer Society- Breast Cancer Statistics). Each year in the Americas alone, around 500,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and 1/5 of them are expected to die from this disease. Looking forward, these numbers are expected to surge by ~40%, and this increase is not even inclusive of the rising number of new cases of male breast cancer. Anthracycline/taxane-based regimens are among the standard of care for TNBC in adjuvant settings [2]. The addition of capecitabine or platinum may offer extra benefits to patients with TNBC, but at the cost of increased toxicity or adverse events [3]. Unfortunately, patients frequently present with de novo resistant disease or relapse quickly [4]. Tremendous effort has been made to understand the key programs and molecular mechanisms through which TNBC becomes chemo resistant to generate potential therapeutic targets to treat the disease and properly stratify patients for best outcome in clinical trials.