Celebrating Success: Our Research Fellows Accepted to Residency and Master's Programs

Today, we are thrilled to share some exciting news. The hard work, dedication, and passion of our research fellows have paid off as they have been accepted into prestigious residency and master's programs. These remarkable achievements not only reflect their individual excellence but also highlight the impact of collaborative research efforts in shaping promising medical careers. Moreover, through their work, they have demonstrated that research is not an isolated endeavor; rather, it is a vital link between scientific discoveries and patient well-being.

	Jaime Pardo, MD PGY-3 Integrated Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Rush University, Chicago, IL
	Rene Flores, MD MPH PGY-1 General Surgery Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
	Estefania Roldan, MD Master of Public Health - Clinical Effectiveness T.H. Chan School of Public Health Harvard University, Boston, MA

24th ASBrS Annual Meeting

We are happy to announce that our team got accepted four abstracts to be presented at the ASBrS Annual Meeting 2023.

1. Role of Axillary Lymph Node Dissection for Isolated Tumor Cells Following Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy (Estefania Roldan, MD)

2. ECHS1 Mediates Metabolic Disruption in Hormone Receptor-positive Breast Tumor Microenvironment (Tina Bharani, MD)

3. Feasibility of Deescalating Axillary Surgery in cN2 patients after Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy (Kathryn Capasso, MD)

4. Impact of Delayed Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy: A Single Institution Experience (Kathryn Capasso, MD)

DF/HCC Incubator Award Program

We are happy to announce that BCSORP Lab with The Ubellacker Lab won the DF/HCC Incubator Award Program. DF/HCC has established this annual funding initiative for Incubator projects among teams from different DF/HCC institutions to tackle questions that align with the Center’s strategic priorities. A key element of this award mechanism is to support teams that commit to sustained collaboration through the imminent submission of new extramural multi-investigator grants.

Each year over 40,000 individuals die from breast cancer only in the United States, with metastasis the leading cause of mortality. Although some breast cancer cells metastasize directly via the bloodstream, regional lymph node metastases can sometimes give rise to distant metastases through the blood by migrating into blood vessels. However, current cancer staging algorithms do not adequately predict the risk of cancer progression from lymph nodes. Furthermore, it is unknown whether exposure to lymph influences the subsequent survival of these cells in the blood and the ability of the cancer cells to metastasize to distant organs. Recent observations suggest that it may be possible to target metabolism in cancer cells, including in breast cancer, to prevent cancer spread from lymph nodes. To investigate this, we have assembled a strong team of investigators: Jessalyn Ubellacker, Ph.D. is an expert in lymphatic biology and lipidomics and metastasis modeling in vivo. Taru Muranen, Ph.D. is an expert in three-dimensional patient-derived co-culturing systems as well as stromal and extracellular matrix influences on breast cancer progression. Ted James, M.D. is a breast oncologist with expertise in revealing the role lymph node plays in breast cancer progression. This proposal will provide foundational data to uncover novel metabolic and lipidomic pathways that enable breast cells to survive in the lymph; these pathways have the potential be therapeutically targeted to suppress breast cancer metastasis. In this project, we will work to characterize changes in lipid metabolism of breast cancer cells in lymph nodes that are required for distant metastasis and/or serve as lymph-based biomarkers of cancer progression.