Gregory P Botta, PhD
MD Candidate | NIH/NIDDK Kirschstein Fellow
Drexel University College of Medicine
Researcher | Division of Gastroenterology
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
International Forum on Prospective in Cancer Research and
Treatment (ProCaRT)
Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle | Paris, France
November 2-11, 2010
My PhD thesis focuses on the signaling events inherent in
Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma that enable it to invade and
metastasize so readily within our patient populations. Specifically, our group probes the ability of constitutively active KRas to sustain ERK2 signaling. We have found that this cascade enables genetic transcription of metalloproteinases
(among other genes) capable of initializing invasion through 3-D extracellular matrices. The terminal result of my
MD/PhD training at Drexel and Penn would be the ability to develop novel pharmaceuticals capable of inhibiting this KRas – ERK2 Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma signaling pathway and its ultimate neoplastic spread in patients. As such, the
ProCaRT conference was a springboard into the arena of the top cancer therapeutic and drug-targeting minds in the
world.
The focus of the conference was the various methods of
inhibiting tumor signaling pathways, their extracellular matrix
interaction, and tumor stem cell development. Specifically, the
group discussed the lack of success in kinase inhibitors and
MMP inhibitors over the last decade, what advances have been
discovered as of late, and the direction the field would like to
point in the future.
Sir Philip Cohen, Joseph Schlessinger, Jean Charles Soria, Amato
Giaccia, Michael Clarke, and Bart Vanhaesebroeck are all
recognized expert leaders within this field and having one-onone conversations about their research ideas was invaluable.
The notion that an efficient, model-driven kinase inhibitor
against K-Ras and its specific gene profile could decrease overall cancer mortality by 60% and Pancreatic Cancer
specifically by a staggering 90% excites me to no end. The roundtable discussions with these usually unavailable
professors spurred my own ideas while giving me the ability to understand the next steps in my career. Lastly, Robert
Weinberg, the father of modern day cancer stem cell theory, ended the forum with an in depth look at cancer stem cells
and their metastatic profiles as well as a final session
regarding monoclonal antibodies and molecular therapeutic
tools.
Having this international experience woven with the most
formidable minds in the cancer therapeutic field allowed
me to contribute to Drexel University and the University of
Pennsylvania’s growing leadership in cancer biology and
their technology transfer goals in pharmaceuticals.