(Postponed) Emergent Cellular Ecosystems in Melanoma Revealed by Single Cell Analysis

The Biological Sciences Seminar featuring Jianlong Wang, originally scheduled for April 2, 2020, has been postponed. Please visit biosci.gatech.edu for further updates.

Arjun Raj, Ph.D.
Department of Bioengineering
Department of Genetics
University of Pennsylvania

ABSTRACT
Anti-cancer therapies can often kill the vast majority of tumor cells but a few rare cells remain and grow despite treatment. Non-genetic variability has emerged as a potential contributor to this behavior. However, it remains unclear what drives this variability, and what the ultimate phenotypic consequences are. We have developed a set of new single cell barcoding technologies (Time Machine and FateMap) that have enabled us to show how different types of variability can translate into different drug-resistant outcomes upon treatment with drug. In particular, we found that even a genetically and epigenetically clonal population harbors enough latent variability to produce an entire ecosystem of different resistant cell types, and show preliminary evidence suggesting that these cell types can contribute to tumor development in distinct ways.

Hosts: Drs. Annalise Paaby & Joe Lachance

Event Details

Date: 
Thursday, April 2, 2020 - 10am

Location:
Room 1005, Roger A. and Helen B. Krone Engineered Biosystems Building (EBB), 950 Atlantic Dr NW, Atlanta, GA 30332