2005 Individual Investigator Award Recipient — Terry A. Van Dyke, PhD

Project Summary

Disruption in a molecular pathway called pRb has been found in more than half of epithelial ovarian cancers, and correlates with lower survival rate of the patients compared with those with no disruption in the pathway. Dr. Van Dyke has developed a tool to disrupt pRb pathway in mice, called T121, which led to abnormal proliferation of cells and epithelial ovarian cancer. The mouse also has abnormal ascites, tumor spreading to local tissues and to the lung. His work demonstrates that human epithelial cancer can be modeled in mice by expression of T121 in ovaries. However, the conventional transgenic strategy that engineered the mouse did not allow him to breed it for further experimentation. In this project, Dr. Van Dyke hopes to engineer a new mouse that would allow him to further study tumor progression.

Bio

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