ROCKEFELLER METASTASIS RESEARCH NETWORK CENTER
THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY METASTASIS RESEARCH NETWORK CENTER
Using systems level approaches to understand cancer metastasis
​Metastatic disease is a complex, dynamic and emergent process that requires collective and coordinated interactions between many cell types, metabolites and the host. There is substantial clinico-pathologic and experimental evidence for critical roles of neural innervation, lymphatic interactions, metabolites and endothelial cells in regulating metastatic progression by altering cancer and immune cell functions. As such, these cellular interactions likely shape metastatic progression, responses to therapy and metastatic dissemination. However, we have a limited understanding of how these components coordinately regulate metastatic progression. The Rockefeller University Metastasis Research Network Center applies highly innovative multidisciplinary molecular, cell- biological, metabolic, massively-parallel single-cell sequencing and organismal methods towards defining the dynamic and emergent mechanisms by which neural cells, lymphatics, immune cells and metabolites interact to coordinately regulate metastatic progression—contributing to a systems-level understanding of metastasis.
Cancer survivors and patient advocates provide valuable insight throughout the research continuum to inform scientific discovery, public policy, and clinical research.
Deena Oren
For seventeen years, Deena Oren managed the Structural Biology Resource Center (SBRC) at RU, an expert resource for protein expression, purification, and structure determination via X-ray crystallography. In the SBRC researchers from any laboratory on campus could embed themselves to learn structural biology and protein science techniques and to obtain material for their projects. These interactions have resulted in over 40 peer-reviewed publications and numerous unpublished results. While working at RU, Deena was diagnosed with HR+/Her2- breast cancer and was treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center across the street. Being a patient and a scientist posed challenges that resulted in a deep dive into the scientific research so as to inform the personal medical decisions along the journey to full recovery. Being a patient with research experience also offered a unique opportunity to serve the research community as a volunteer. Deena has been a patient advocate with the MetNet since it's inception, contributing both the scientific and the patient perspectives, impacting the research and the researchers in this consortium.