Strategies to Improve Melanoma Patient Outcomes

Host: Professor Elizabeth Gardiner

Abstract

A/Prof Karen Sheppard’s research employs molecular biology, cellular biology, immunology and single cell technologies coupled with clinically relevant mouse models to understand changes in the tumour microenvironment and melanoma cell states that occur in response to therapy and upon resistance. The seminar will cover several ongoing projects including combination of small molecule inhibitors  to overcome the development of therapy resistance, the impact of adiposity on therapy response and strategies for combining targeted- and immune- therapies.

Biography

Associate Professor Karen Sheppard obtained her Ph.D at Monash University where she worked on steroid hormone signalling. A highly prestigious postdoctoral Fulbright fellowship allowed her to continue these studies in the laboratories of Prof. Bruce McEwen at Rockefeller University and Prof. James Roberts at Mt. Sinai Medical Centre in New York. On returning to Australia, she took up the position as head of the Molecular Physiology Laboratory, at the Baker Medical Research Institute focusing on cardiac hypertrophy for which she received a Searle Young Investigator award. Her interest in cell growth and kinase signalling spearheaded her move to the Peter MacCallum Cancer centre in 2004. Since arriving at the PeterMac she has led her own research program through competitive grant funding and managed several collaborative projects with industry partners. She currently co-leads the Molecular Oncology laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Her research aims to identify novel therapeutic strategies for melanoma and molecular mechanisms that lead to drug tolerance and therapy resistance. Her goal is to translate these discoveries into personalized approaches that improve patient outcomes.

Her research employs molecular biology, cellular biology, immunology and single cell technologies coupled with clinically relevant mouse models to understand changes in the tumour microenvironment and melanoma cell states that occur in response to therapy and upon resistance. Current projects are exploring the impact of adiposity on therapy response, strategies for combining targeted and immunotherapy, how the site of metastasis impacts on melanoma biology and novel treatments for therapy resistant disease.