Sofia Merajver | |
---|---|
Born | 1953 (age 70–71) |
Academic background | |
Education | BA, MA, PhD, physics, 1979, University of Maryland, College Park MD, 1987, Michigan Medicine |
Thesis | Phase transitions in biomembranes: a random walk model (1979) |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of Michigan |
Sofia Diana Merajver (born 1953) is an American-Argentine medical oncologist. She is the GreaterGood Breast Cancer Research Professor and director of the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk Evaluation Program at Michigan Medicine. In 2022,Merajver was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Merajver was born in 1953 [1] to a Jewish family in Argentina. [2] She enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires to study mathematics and physics but eventually left her home country due to the Dirty War. [3]
Upon leaving Argentina for the United States at the age of 19,Merajver enrolled at the University of Maryland,College Park (UMD). [2] She completed her PhD in physics at UMD in 1979 and published her thesis Phase transitions in biomembranes:a random walk model. [4] Following her PhD,Merajver accepted a post-doctoral fellowship in biological physics at the United States Naval Research Laboratory where she attempted to devise membranes to encapsulate hemoglobin protein so artificial blood could be produced for the military. [2] Merajver then earned her medical degree in 1987 from Michigan Medicine and completed her residency and fellowship at the same institution. [5]
Following her residency and fellowship,Merajver joined the faculty at the University of Michigan where she founded the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk Evaluation Program. [3] She also became the director of the Breast and Ovarian Risk Evaluation Clinic at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. As an associate professor in 1999,she oversaw a research study that led to the identification of genes that may control the development of inflammatory breast cancer. [6] She was also promoted to the rank of Full professor of Internal Medicine. [7]
Upon accepting her new role,Merajver helped lead clinical and laboratory investigations of the drug tetrathiomolybdate,including a Phase II trial for advanced breast cancer patients. During the trial,Merajver discovered that the drug showed evidence of tumor stabilization in patients whose copper levels were reduced to one-fifth of their original levels for three months or more. [8] Following this,Merajver found that the protein RhoC was a key driver of inflammatory breast cancer and early detection could prevent them from spreading. Her research team subsequently became the first to show that RhoC was also involved in breast cancer and could transform cells into cancerous ones with metastatic potential. [9] Later,Merajver's research team used experimental data from the MAPK/ERK pathway to develop a new mathematical model for scientists to learn which cellular processes are key in many diseases. [10]
As her tenure at UMich continued,Merajver continued to examine the impact of RhoC and found that when the gene interacted with the cell's machinery at a molecular level it regulates how it produces energy. [11] Following this,Merajver was named the recipient of the 2016–17 Sarah Goddard Power Award as someone "who demonstrate scholarship,leadership and support of women faculty,staff and students." [12] Merajver continued her drug research and developed a dual inhibitor technology for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer which alters the cellular localization of c-Strc/p38 kinase and decreases the accessibility of their regulatory domains. [13]
As a result of her oncological research,Merajver was appointed the inaugural GreaterGood Breast Cancer Research Professor in Spring 2021. [14] The following year,she was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for "landmark studies of mechanisms,novel therapies and biomarkers,and management of patients with inflammatory breast cancers and women at increased risk for cancers in the United States and Africa." [15]
In 2017,Merajver was diagnosed with breast cancer but has since entered remission. [16]
Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast,a change in breast shape,dimpling of the skin,milk rejection,fluid coming from the nipple,a newly inverted nipple,or a red or scaly patch of skin. In those with distant spread of the disease,there may be bone pain,swollen lymph nodes,shortness of breath,or yellow skin.
Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different cell types including epithelial cells,germ cells,and stromal cells. When these cells become abnormal,they have the ability to divide and form tumors. These cells can also invade or spread to other parts of the body. When this process begins,there may be no or only vague symptoms. Symptoms become more noticeable as the cancer progresses. These symptoms may include bloating,vaginal bleeding,pelvic pain,abdominal swelling,constipation,and loss of appetite,among others. Common areas to which the cancer may spread include the lining of the abdomen,lymph nodes,lungs,and liver.
The Institute of Cancer Research is a public research institute and a member institution of the University of London in London,United Kingdom,specialising in oncology. It was founded in 1909 as a research department of the Royal Marsden Hospital and joined the University of London in 2003. It has been responsible for a number of breakthrough discoveries,including that the basic cause of cancer is damage to DNA.
Mary-Claire King is an American geneticist. She was the first to show that breast cancer can be inherited due to mutations in the gene she called BRCA1. She studies human genetics and is particularly interested in genetic heterogeneity and complex traits. She studies the interaction of genetics and environmental influences and their effects on human conditions such as breast and ovarian cancer,inherited deafness,schizophrenia,HIV,systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. She has been the American Cancer Society Professor of the Department of Genome Sciences and of Medical Genetics in the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington since 1995.
RhoC is a small signaling G protein,and is a member of the Rac subfamily of the family Rho family of GTPases. It is encoded by the gene RHOC.
Olaparib,sold under the brand name Lynparza,is a medication for the maintenance treatment of BRCA-mutated advanced ovarian cancer in adults. It is a PARP inhibitor,inhibiting poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP),an enzyme involved in DNA repair. It acts against cancers in people with hereditary BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations,which include some ovarian,breast,and prostate cancers.
Sir Bruce Anthony John Ponder FMedSci FAACR FRS FRCP is an English geneticist and cancer researcher. He is Emeritus Professor of Oncology at the University of Cambridge and former director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Cancer Centre.
Georgia Chenevix-Trench is an Australian cancer researcher who investigates genetic predispositions to cancer.
Prescient Therapeutics Ltd is a clinical stage oncology company. The company is focused on the development of a universal CAR-T platform (OmniCAR),enhanced CAR-T cell manufacturing &function (CellPryme) and on two small molecule drug targeted therapies.
Teresa Kaye Woodruff is an American medical researcher in human reproduction and oncology,with a focus on ovarian biology,endocrinology,and women's health. She joined Michigan State University as the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs in August 2020. Woodruff served as the interim President of Michigan State University from November 4,2022 to March 4,2024,following the resignation of Samuel L. Stanley. She was previously the Thomas J. Watkins Memorial Professor and Vice Chair for Research and Chief of the Division of Reproductive Science in Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago,Illinois.
Debra Auguste is an American chemical engineer and professor at Northeastern University in the department of chemical engineering. Auguste is dedicated to developing treatments for triple negative breast cancer,one of the most aggressive and fatal cancers that disproportionately affects African American women. Her lab characterizes biomarkers of triple negative breast cancer and develops novel biocompatible therapeutic technologies to target and destroy metastatic cancer cells. Auguste received the 2012 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and in 2010 was named in the 50 Most Influential African-Americans in Technology. In 2020,Auguste became an Elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
Bhuvaneswari Ramaswamy is an American breast medical oncologist and hematologist. She serves as section chief of Breast Medical Oncology and as director of the Medical Oncology Fellowship Program in Breast Cancer for The Ohio State College of Medicine.
Allison Walsh Kurian is an American medical oncologist. She is a Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology &Population Health at Stanford University and an oncologist at the Stanford Cancer Institute.
Jung-Min Lee is a South Korean-American medical oncologist and physician-scientist focused on the early clinical drug development and translational studies of targeted agents in BRCA mutation-associated breast or ovarian cancer,high-grade epithelial ovarian cancer,and triple-negative breast cancer. She is a senior investigator in the Women's Malignancies Branch at the National Cancer Institute.
Liza Makowski Hayes is an American nutritional biochemist. As a professor at the University of Tennessee,her research focuses on how metabolic stress and inflammation alters the progression of diseases,specifically obesity and cancer.
Joni L. Rutter is an American geneticist and director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). Rutter was previously director of the scientific programs in the All of Us initiative and served as the neuroscience and behavior division director at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Her scientific experience includes clinical research in human genetics and environmental risk factors focusing on the fields of cancer and addiction.
Julia Lesley Wilson is a British scientist who serves as associate director at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Her research career investigates transplant rejection,cancer and inflammation. She previously worked at the World Cancer Research Fund and Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
Mona Mostafa Mohamed is an Egyptian doctor and head of the Cancer Biology Research Laboratory at Cairo University in Giza,Egypt. In 2005 she was granted the Avon Foundation-AACR International Scholar Award for her dedication to breast cancer research. Mohamed is known for her research on locally activated breast cancer,metastatic breast cancer,and inflammatory breast cancer.
Jasmin Fisher,is an Israeli-British biologist who is Professor of computational biology at University College London. She is Group Leader of the Fisher Lab at UCL Cancer Institute,which develops state-of-the-art computational models and analysis techniques to study cancer evolution and mechanisms of drug resistance to identify better personalised treatments for cancer patients.
Doron Levy is a mathematician,scientist,magician,and academic. He is a Professor and chair at the Department of Mathematics at the University of Maryland,College Park. He is also the Director of the Brin Mathematics Research Center.
Sofia Merajver publications indexed by Google Scholar