Special Lunch seminar- Visiting Scientist Prof. Alex Birbrair

Prof. Alexander Birbrair, an expert in the interplay between the nervous system and tumors, is joining us for a five-week summer visit.
Bridging basic and translational research, his work offers new insights into tumor biology and the role of the nervous system in cancer progression.
Faculty members and RTICC researchers are warmly invited to meet him.
He will share highlights of his research in an informal seminar — a great opportunity for scientific exchange and collaboration.

“Revealing and exploiting therapeutically the neuron-pericyte axis in melanoma”

Recent studies by our group and others have demonstrated that cancer and the nervous system bear a close, entangled relationship. Melanoma-infiltrating nerves affect tumor progression, but the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these findings remain poorly understood. Nerves signal to other cell types via neuropeptide receptors.
We found that neurons may signal to pericytes (cells surrounding the blood vessels) through CGRP and PACAP neuropeptides within melanoma tumors. We are defining the mechanistic and therapeutic significance of this neuron-pericyte axis in melanoma. Our data suggest that this axis can be exploited as a novel promising therapeutic target to obtain improved anti-melanoma responses.