Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Seattle, Washington, United States
Anca Mihalas, Ph.D., Staff Scientist, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA
I was born in Romania and graduated in Timisoara with a medical degree. I immigrated to USA after graduation and became interested in research. I now have a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from Johns Hopkins Medical Institution.
During my first research rotation in my Ph.D. program, I used a proteomic approach to study pancreatic cancer mechanisms. This study identified EGFR as an attractive candidate for targeted therapy as well as a potential biomarker in a subset of pancreatic cancers.
My doctoral thesis research focused on the role of the transcription factor NF-κB in homeostatic synaptic plasticity in response to elevated activity. In my work, we demonstrated that elevated neuronal activity induces an integral feedback loop including the polo-like kinases and the transcription factor NF-κB to achieve and maintain equilibrium in the homeostatic response.
During my postdoctoral training I studied the role of neuronal intermediate progenitors in cortical development. My studies uncovered that embryonic deficits in cortical neuronal progenitors that lead to cerebral cortical layer dysregulation also promote altered postnatal behaviors.
My recent research interest has been in brain cancer. Glioblastoma is a devastating disease that is resistant to treatment, inevitably recurs and the survival rates are very poor. Given the heterogenous nature of glioblastoma and the fact that it is very infiltrative in the brain parenchyma, chemo-radiation and surgical removal approaches remain ineffective. My recent work focuses on studying glioblastoma stem cell G0-like states that emerge through therapeutic pressure to exploit them for therapeutic approaches. I hope that my research will make an impact towards finding better therapeutics for this terrible cancer.
