Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering

Distinguished Seminar Series

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

9:30-10:20am

MJIS 1001 or Via Zoom:

https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/j/95150439811?pwd=a3hOK0o0bmpkS3poTVBCbVhDNU9FZz09

 Stromal disruption and cell engineering strategies

to enhance distribution of cytotoxic T cells

Paolo Provenzano, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Masonic Cancer Center

University of Minnesota

Abstract: Epithelial cancers, or carcinomas, behave like a complex “organ” and are comprised of multiple cell populations, including primary carcinoma cells, stromal fibroblasts, immune cells, endothelial cells, and structural and signaling components such as the stromal extracellular matrix (ECM). In this complex microenvironment, cells encounter a multitude of coordinated, simultaneously active, stimuli that are biochemical, structural, and mechanical in nature. The presence of these elements is neither random nor uniform across the tumor.  Rather, these elements and the dynamic interactions among them evolve coordinately during tumor progression, conspiring to promote and sustain the carcinoma and contributing to its ability to resist molecular and immune therapies.  As such, here recent findings elucidating how mechanical and architectural cues in tumor microenvironments contribute to therapeutic resistance will be presented.  We show how complex stromal dynamics can limit transport of small molecule therapies and suppress anti-tumor immunity and immune therapies, and will present findings highlighting the utility of stroma targeting therapies and/or engineered T cell therapies to overcome physical barriers in solid tumors.

Bio: Paolo Provenzano is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota.  He is a project leader and executive committee member of the NCI-designated University of Minnesota Physical Sciences in Oncology Center and Director of the Center for Multiparametric Imaging of Tumor Immune Microenvironments (C-MITIE). He was also an American Cancer Society Research Scholar and a University of Minnesota Masonic Scholar.  Paolo’s current research interests center on 1) defining how complex physical and chemical interactions drive cancer progression to metastasis, 2) developing novel therapeutic strategies to combat disease by re-engineering tumor microenvironments, and 3) employing rationale engineering strategies to design cell-based therapeutics. He has published more than 55 journal articles with more than 11,000 citations and an h-index of 34.  Prior to joining the University of Minnesota, he was a DOD-CDMRP Breast Cancer Research Program postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin with Dr. Patricia Keely where he helped pioneer the field of cancer cell mechanobiology and live carcinoma optical imaging.  Following my postdoctoral training he transitioned these studies to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle to develop novel therapeutic strategies.

~BME Faculty Host: Dr. Luis Solorio ~