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BMB PhD Program Faculty

Utthara Nayar

Targeting resistant breast and ovarian cancer

Assistant Professor

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Utthara Nayar

Research Overview

Intrinsic or acquired resistance to anti-cancer therapies underlies most mortality from breast and ovarian cancers. Dr. Nayar identified a new subset of breast cancer that develops resistance to endocrine therapy through the acquisition of mutations in receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), such as HER2 and FGFR. The Nayar laboratory aims to understand the underlying molecular mechanism(s) by which a tumor becomes resistant to targeted therapy through the acquisition of genetic alterations, employing ER+ breast and low-grade serous ovarian cancer as models. In particular, the lab is interested in mapping cancer-associated genetic variants to function and phenotype, uncovering the genetic and epigenetic drivers of resistance, and identifying new therapeutic vulnerabilities in therapy-resistant tumors. To this end, the laboratory leverages cell and molecular biology, animal models, functional genomics tools, and high-throughput screening methodologies to understand resistance to endocrine and targeted inhibitors in advanced metastatic breast and ovarian cancer.

 

 

Selected Publications