Univ. of MN Medical School
I am Patricia Scott Ph.D. an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School Duluth Campus in the Biomedical Sciences Department. My research concerns colorectal cancer (CRC). Colorectal cancer arises from the intestinal epithelial crypt which contains cancer-initiating stem and progenitor cells. My research is aimed at understanding factors that lead to cancer-causing disruption of this compartment with a focus on the ion channel CFTR which is expressed in the intestinal crypt. A series of studies by our group identified CFTR as colorectal cancer tumor suppressor gene. These studies began with the identification of CFTR as candidate colorectal cancer-causing gene in a Sleeping Beauty transposon-mediated mutagenesis screen. I contributed to this phase of the work as a co-investigator on the R01 award funding this work. CFTR was then identified by our group as a tumor suppressor gene in both mouse models and human colorectal cancer. In this work I led the introduction of the organoid culture technique in our group as a model to study the effect of CFTR on the stem cell compartment. In more recent work I have contributed to population-based studies to determine the risk of CRC in CF carriers and people with low tumoral expression of CFTR. Currently our group is investigating in the CFTR-deficient intestinal microbiome as a potential contributor to CRC development. I am currently an investigator on several funded studies concerning the role of CFTR in colorectal cancer including an international collaboration funded by the United Kingdom Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
Friday, September 27, 2024
10:15 AM – 12:15 PM ET