The ElShamy group
Dr. ElShamy’s research interests encompass basic, clinical, and translational research. The research projects in his lab focus on identifying and improving treatments for breast and ovarian cancer, especially metastatic diseases in which tumors will develop and spread to other areas of the body. The ongoing research conducted by the ElShamy group is based on the hypothesis that tumor cell dissemination and metastasis is an early event and not an end point of the disease. If this hypothesis is correct, this means that current treatment options will fail to target the true killer, the metastatic precursors that have already spread.
The ElShamy lab is specifically focused on tackling breast cancer as an interactive entity composed of tumor cells and their microenvironment. The tumor microenvironment contains a variety of activated entities such as adult stem cells (mesenchymal stem cells) and white blood cells (macrophages and other immune cells) which are intimately involved in promoting tumor progression and spreading cancer to other organs. The ElShamy approach aims to therapeutically target both the microenvironment and the tumor cells to achieve a higher level of remission. The hope is that, if successful, this information will allow us to develop novel therapeutic regimens to block tumor progression and therapeutic resistance.
The DerMardirossian group
A major challenge in cancer is identifying ways to limit the invasion of cancer cells. One approach to prevent invasion is to find ways to block the way cancer cells respond to environmental signals that encourage them to migrate. Cells move decisively in a particular direction by creating temporary structures called lamellipodia and filopodia, that emerge like fingers to initiate and direct cell migration. The DerMardirossian group focuses on dissecting the underlying biological factors and pathways that regulate lamellipodia and filopodia development and movement. This information is critical to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying normal physiological function of cells and the consequence of deregulation in pathological conditions such as cancer.
A critical factor in the process that results in cell movement is the ability of cells to coordinate signaling pathways with the movement of physical structures in the cells, otherwise called, cytoskeleton dynamics. Many tumors increase their expression and/or activation of proteins known as RhoGTPases, GEFs, and GAPs. These are critical coordinators of the cytoskeleton machinery, making them key players for cells movement.
Ongoing projects in the DerMardirossian lab include the analysis of the role of RhoGTPases, GEFs, and GAPs, and a series of new binding partners that have been recently discovered by the DerMardirossian group, in regulating lamellipodia, filopodia, and subsequently cell migration and cancer invasion. This information will be used to design new strategies to control the aberrant activation of RhoGTPases, their regulators, and cancer metastases.
Experimental approaches used in the DerMardirossian lab include biochemistry, state-of-the-art confocal microscopy, high-throughput screening, computational methods for drug design, and pre-clinical cancer migration models.
