The Herbert and Florence Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics will continue its seminar series on the topic of mathematical sciences underpinning cancer research. The monthly seminars take place on the second Wednesday of the month, 2:00-3:00 PM EST. The presentations are open to the Columbia community (in person and online) and to researchers outside Columbia (via Zoom).
On Wednesday, October 9th (2:00 PM ET), IICD welcomes Carlos Carmona-Fontaine, Associate Professor of Biology, New York University. Seminar hosted by Simon Tavaré. The seminar will take place in person in Schermerhorn Hall 603 (Morningside Heights campus). If you wish to attend the seminar remotely, please register using the following link: https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0td-6qrz0qG9Bq0heUQR-6XAZoC7ZkfE_6
Title: Modeling Social Cell Struggles in Cancer
Abstract: Tumor evolution is shaped by cell competition and cooperation. While competition in cancer is widely studied, the role of cell cooperation and its underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Cooperative populations at all levels of biological organization risk extinction if their size falls below a critical tipping point. I will present our recent work where we sought to identify cooperative mechanisms in cancer so that we can exploit them and drive tumor populations to this critical point. We identified CNDP2 as the key enzyme that hydrolyzes these peptides, and loss of this aminopeptidase prevents tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. These data show that cooperation to scavenge nutrients is key to survive in the tumor microenvironment and reveal a targetable cancer vulnerability. I will also present additional mathematical and experimental models showing how we can use insights from ecology to better understand the tumor
microenvironment.
Bio: Carlos Carmona-Fontaine is an Associate Professor of Biology and member of the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology. He holds a Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology from University College London, UK and a B.Sc. in Biological Sciences from Chile. The main interest of his laboratory is to understand how cells organize to form multicellular structures and to coordinate in collective processes. Multicellular is important during physiological processes such as embryonic development but it is also critical in cancer and other diseases. The work of his lab suggests that a large part of this organization emerges from social and ecological interactions between cells that are mediated by metabolites – nutrients and waste products of cellular activity. Prior to joining the faculty at NYU, Carlos was an independent research fellow at the Computational Biology Program at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He received a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence award during his postdoctoral research and was awarded the Beddington Medal for his doctoral studies. As faculty member he received a number of grants including a DP2 New Innovator Award from the NIH, a Pew Biomedical Fellowship, and an American Cancer Society research fellowship.
If you would like to meet one-on-one (possibility via zoom) or attend the lunch or dinner with the speaker, please contact the event organizer.
