RICCARDO FODDE, Professor of Experimental Pathology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam
Cancer Stem Cells: Are You a Chelsea or Man United Supporter
Date/Time: 14th January 2010, 17:30 - 18:30
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Cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a novel, yet controversial, concept in cancer biology. The CSC model was introduced when it became clear that only a subpopulation of tumor cells retains the ability to form new cancerous tissues when transplanted into immune-deficient mice. CSCs are thought to underlie tumor initiation and growth and possibly even metastasis formation in distant organ site. Hence, CSCs are of potentially great clinical relevance as they represent ideal targets for the development of therapeutic approaches which carry the promise of eradicating the disease cancer.
However, the concept of CSCs has also been a matter of controversy among scientists supporting this idea and others who fiercely reject it. In fact, the essence of the CSC model simply postulates that the same hierarchical organization that characterizes stem cell niches is also present within cancers with distinct functional roles earmarking different types of tumor cells.
Riccardo Fodde studied biology and molecular genetics at the University of Pavia, Italy. His PhD was carried out at the Dept. of Human Genetics of the University of Leiden and has led to the characterization of the spectrum of mutations leading to thalassemia in The Netherlands. In 1990 he started his post-doctoral work on the molecular genetic basis of colorectal cancer in the same department. As a fellow of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science (KNAW) he visited the laboratory of prof. Raju Kucherlapati at the A. Einstein College of Medicine in New York, where he developed the first targeted mouse model for intestinal tumorigenesis.
In 2001, he became full professor of Cancer Genetics at the Centre for Human & Clinical Genetics of the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC). His group has contributed to the elucidation of the molecular basis of hereditary colorectal cancer in man, developed a large number of pre-clinical mouse models for colorectal carcinogenesis, and characterized novel functional aspects of the APC tumour suppressor gene. Most recently, the focus of his research has been centred on the role of stem cells in cancer. Since 2003 he is professor of Experimental Pathology at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam. In 2005, he became member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).