The Arkansas Integrative Metabolic Research Center will host a seminar at 11:50 a.m. Monday, Nov. 8, via Zoom. Claudia Fischbach-Teschl of Cornell University will discuss her research on how aberrant extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling in the tumor microenvironment regulates the phenotypic diversity of tumor cells and which role metabolic reprogramming plays in this process. Fischbach-Teschl, a professor of biomedical engineering, will review the compositional, microarchitectural, and mechanical hallmarks of cancer-associated ECM and highlight biomaterials and engineering approaches to recapitulate these properties for in vitro and in vivo studies of metabolism in a presentation titled, "Extracellular Matrix as a Microenvironmental Regulator of Cancer."

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the US and is associated with both metabolic reprogramming and the emergence of cancer stem cells (CSCs). How aberrant extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling in the tumor microenvironment regulates the phenotypic diversity of tumor cells and which role metabolic reprogramming plays in this process, however, remains poorly understood. Our limited knowledge of these connections is due in part to a lack of model systems that allow isolating the physicochemical heterogeneity of malignancy-associated ECM for mechanistic studies. In this talk, Dr. Fischbach-Teschl will review the compositional, microarchitectural, and mechanical hallmarks of cancer-associated ECM and highlight biomaterials and engineering approaches to recapitulate these properties for in vitro and in vivo studies of metabolism. Subsequently, she will describe how such engineered platforms may be explored to define the functional links between cancer-associated ECM remodeling, cellular metabolism, and the CSC phenotype, and discuss potential implications for metastasis.

Claudia Fischbach-Teschl is the Stanley Bryer 1946 Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University, director of Cornell's Physical Sciences Oncology Center (PSOC) on the Physics of Cancer Metabolism, and associate director of Cornell Nanoscale Science and Engineering Facility (CNF). She received her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Technology from the University of Regensburg, Germany and conducted her postdoctoral work at Harvard University in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She became a faculty member at Cornell in 2007 where she utilizes engineering tools and strategies to gain a better understanding of how tumor-microenvironment interactions regulate cancer development, progression, and therapy resistance with a focus on cell-ECM interactions. She is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), the Biomedical Engineering Society, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. She served on the Tumor Microenvironment study section, is a senior editor of Cancer Research and serves on the Editorial Board of the ACS journal Biomaterials Science and Engineering and Tissue Engineering. She is an advocate for interdisciplinary cancer research (e.g., as Chair of the 2019 Gordon Conference on the 'Physical Science of Cancer') and has written op-ed articles on this topic including in Scientific American. 

If you have any questions about this event, please email Kimberley Fuller.