CCMB Seminar 10/22/25: Dr. Sendurai Mani скачать в хорошем качестве

CCMB Seminar 10/22/25: Dr. Sendurai Mani

Reactivation of Embryonic EMT Programs to Unlock Cancer Stem Cell Traits, Metastasis, and Resistance (Dr. Sendurai Mani, Brown) Abstract: Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a key developmental process that cancer cells often hijack to promote progression and evade therapy. Reactivation of EMT programs allows cancer cells to gain stem cell–like traits that facilitate metastasis and contribute to therapy resistance. In this talk, I will present evidence and demonstrate how reactivating embryonic EMT circuits underpins gaining stemness traits, cellular plasticity, enabling tumor cells to switch between epithelial and mesenchymal states. Additionally, I will explore the mechanistic connections between EMT and cancer stem cells and how these interrelated processes contribute to tumor progression. Finally, I will discuss ways to target EMT–stemness pathways to overcome metastasis and the development of resistance to treatments. Sendurai A. Mani is a Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Brown University. He is also the Associate Director of Translational Oncology at Brown University Legorreta Cancer Center. Dr. Mani earned a Ph.D. from The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India and then did postdoctoral work with Dr. Robert A. Weinberg at the Whitehead Institute/Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He then joined the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas as an Assistant Professor in December of 2007 and has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2013. In late 2022, Dr. Mani joined Brown University Legorreta Cancer Center as a professor and Associate Director of Translational Oncology. Dr. Mani has received numerous prizes and awards for his research, including a Jimmy V foundation’s V-Scholar Award and The American Cancer Society Research Scholar award. Dr. Mani’s original finding demonstrating the cancer cells acquire stem cell properties by activating latent embryonic epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) program provided the foundation and explanation for the presence of plasticity within the tumor as well as the development of resistance to various treatments.