Melanoma Research Updates Sonia del Rincon Project
State Of The Art Genome Editing Technology to Identify Novel Targetable Survival and Metastatic Pathways in Melanoma
A major strength of our project is that our genome editing approach has an emphasis on cellular targets for which there are FDA approved drugs. Therefore, any target that we identify as being essential for tumor cell survival, for example, can quickly be tested in our pre-clinical models of melanoma. The funds allocated to us by the MNC enabled us to cover part of the salary for PhD student Saythen Prahbu. We partnered with the lab of Dr. Sidong Huang (Goodman Cancer Research Center) to perform an shRNA synthetic lethality screen. Saythen has completed the first step in this multi-institution project, and has sent samples for sequencing, so that we can identify which novel drug targets will act in combination with the inhibition of MNK1/2 activity to kill melanoma cells.
We are also excited to report that members of the del Rincon and Miller labs came out to the Montreal Strides for Melanoma walk. Having been born in 1974, I was personally touched by one young girls sign that stated she was walking for her mom (1974-2018). My lab strives to make a difference in finding a cure for melanoma, and we are so appreciative to the MNC for their financial support.
For a full list of research projects supported by MNC please visit https://www.melanomanetwork.ca/donate/mnc-research/
