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2021 Igor Tulchinsky-PCF Young Investigator Award

Investigating the Tumor Cells of Origin and Disease Progression Trajectories in Prostate Cancer

Sujun Chen, PhD
UHN / Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Mentors: Housheng He, PhD, Paul Boutros, PhD, MBA

Description:

  • Most studies on prostate cancer biology have been done on “bulk” tumor. Thus, how prostate cancer cells evolve over time and throughout disease history remains unclear.
  • Dr. Sujun Chen is using new single cell technologies to study cancer development and evolution on a single cell level.
  • In this project, Dr. Chen will perform single cell RNA and whole genome sequencing on primary and metastatic tumor samples from patients, in order to identify the tumor cells of origin and better understand their biology.
  • The clinical implication for different tumor cells of origin and how they contribute to disease aggressiveness will be determined.
  • The key mechanisms that regulate different prostate cancer disease trajectories will be identified, including mechanisms that regulate how prostate cancer cells interact with other cells in the tumor microenvironment.
  • If successful, this project will characterize the molecular biology of prostate cancer on the single cell level, and provide insights into the mechanisms underlying tumor evolution and heterogeneity.

What this means to patients: Studying tumors on a single cell level will enable a far better understanding of how tumors evolve and progress over time. Dr. Chen will create a much needed resource of single cell prostate cancer data that will help advance the development of biomarkers and the identification of novel therapeutic strategies for advanced prostate cancer.