The extent to which metabolism plays a role in tumorigenesis cannot be overstated and drugs that selectively target these processes are likely to at least delay, if not halt tumor progression.
In this workshop, attendees will discuss a combined approach of utilizing analytical chemistry (metabolomics) and computational biology to study metabolic transformation of cancer cells and to predict novel metabolic targets for cancer treatment.
In the case study presented in this workshop, cancer-related metabolic networks were constructed in silico using this technology and adaptations to metabolic perturbations caused by either genetic loss of metabolic enzymes, environmental constrains or potential drug treatments were investigated. Such an approach enables the identification of metabolic enzymes which are essential for the survival of the metabolically-perturbed cancer cells (synthetically lethal) and hence the design of effective and specific treatments for cancers.
Attend this workshop and leave with an improved understanding of how to apply metabolomics and computational biology to improve drug discovery in cancer metabolism. Hear examples of successful applications for both these techniques to identify key metabolic enzymes for potential drug targets.
Eyal Gottlieb, Professor, The Beatson Institute for Cancer Research
Eyal is currently a group leader at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow as well as a Professor at the University of Glasgow. After graduating with his PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, Eyal completed his postdoctoral studies with Craig Thompson at the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania.
His lab combines molecular and cellular biology with analytical chemistry to identify new metabolic traits of cancer and to explore new potential clinical approaches for cancer treatment. The ultimate aim is to target these survival mechanisms to help eliminate cancer growth and specifically induce cancer cell death.
Eyal won the EMBO Long-Term Fellowship in 1998 and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Special Fellowship in 2001.
The tumour microenvironment is complex and cancer cells exist together with host of stromal and immune cells and an abnormal extracellular matrix.
This environment introduces selection pressures that promote tumour aggressiveness and hinders response to chemotherapy. Considerable advances have however been made in our biochemical understanding of cell to cell and cell to matrix interactions within the tumour microenvironment resulting in novel opportunities for therapeutic intervention.
The purpose of this workshop is to explore some of these opportunities with a particular focus on metabolic reprogramming of cancer cells, metabolic interplay between tumour and stromal cells and the impact of hypoxia on cancer metabolism.
Attend this workshop and tackle these questions head on, with a chance to have one-to-one discussions with the workshop leaders:
• What impact does the physiological tumour microenvironment have on cancer cell metabolism and tumour biology?
• Can we selectively target the glycolytic phenotype of non-proliferating hypoxic cancer cells?
• What experimental models can be used to study the impact of tumour physiology on cancer metabolism?
• What is the potential impact of the microenvironment on therapies designed to target tumour metabolism?
Leave this workshop with a comprehensive understanding of the latest research on the TME as well an appreciation of the therapeutic opportunities available.
Roger Phillips, Reader in Cancer Pharmacology, Institute of Cancer Therapeutics, University of Bradford
Roger completed his PhD at Bradford University where he is now a course tutor for MSc Cancer Pharmacology and a director of post graduate research studies. He has many publications including “Hypoxia-selective targeting by the bioreductive prodrug AQ4N in patients with solid tumors: results of a phase 1 pharmacodynamic study”. He also sits on the editorial boards for British Journal of Pharmacology.
Michael Lisanti, Director, Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit, The University of Manchester
Michael joined Breakthrough in 2010 as Professor of Cancer Biology. He has over 380 publications in peer-reviewed journals and his laboratory is currently ranked in the Top 100 most-cited labs world-wide. After a national search he has recently been appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Pathology.