BMB PhD Program Faculty
Kenneth J. Pienta
Utilizing ecologic principles to study cancer lethality
Donald S. Coffey Professor of Urology
Department of Urology
School of Medicine
Research Overview
Dr. Pienta is involved in research to study prostate cancer metastases and tumor resistance. Research projects utilize ecological principles to understand how cancer cells interact with the other cancer cells and host cells in the tumor microenvironment. The lab is currently focusing its efforts on understanding the role of polyaneuploid cancer cells in metastasis and therapeutic resistance.
Additional Titles
Director of Research, The James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute
Co-Director, Prostate Cancer Research Program, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
Selected Publications
- Mallin MM, Rolle LTA, Pienta KJ, Amend SR. Multiparameter flow cytometric detection and analysis of rare cells in in vivo models of cancer metastasis. Biology methods and protocols, 2024.
- Butler G, Amend SR, Axelrod R, Venditti C, Pienta KJ. Punctuational evolution is pervasive in distal site metastatic colonization. bioRxiv (Preprint), 2024.
- Kostecka LG, Mendez S, Li M, Khare P, Zhang C, Le A, Amend SR, Pienta KJ. Cancer cells employ lipid droplets to survive toxic stress. Prostate, 2024.
- Carroll C, Manaprasertsak A, Boffelli Castro A, van den Bos H, Spierings DCJ, Wardenaar R, Bukkuri A, Engström N, Baratchart E, Yang M, Biloglav A, Cornwallis CK, Johansson B, Hagerling C, Arsenian-Henriksson M, Paulsson K, Amend SR, Mohlin S, Foijer F, McIntyre A, Pienta KJ, Hammarlund EU. Drug-resilient Cancer Cell Phenotype Is Acquired via Polyploidization Associated with Early Stress Response Coupled to HIF2α Transcriptional Regulation. Cancer Research Communications, 2024.
- Kim CJ, Gonye AL, Truskowski K, Lee CF, Cho YK, Austin RH, Pienta KJ, Amend SR. Nuclear morphology predicts cell survival to cisplatin chemotherapy. Neoplasia, 2023.