\u201cEvery big problem originates from a small one, and cancers are no exception,\u201d says Dr. Pilar Baldominos Flores. While the immune system can often detect and eliminate cells with cancer-causing mutations, some manage to slip past these defenses and seed tumors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Baldominos Flores is investigating how that happens \u2013 what specific mutations or interactions allow early cancer cells to survive and escape destruction from our immune systems? Using novel mouse models of breast tumor initiation, her work explores three key questions: 1) what immune cells infiltrate early tumors, 2) what mutations help early cancer cells evade immune attack, and 3) how does that immune response affect the mutations that occur in tumors. \u00abUnderstanding how mutated cells trick the immune system during tumor formation is the first step to prevent it,\u00bb she explains. Dr. Baldominos Flores\u2019 research could not only illuminate the earliest moments of tumor development, but also identify mechanisms of resistance that undermine later-stage immunotherapies, ultimately guiding new strategies for both cancer prevention and treatment. Dr. Baldominos Flores\u2019 research has been driven by outstanding questions in the field of cancer immunology. During her graduate work, she identified a unique population of dormant cancer cells, called quiescent cancer cells, that blocks immune cell entry and creates pockets of resistance inside tumors. To uncover how this happens, she created a spatial labeling technique that uses live-tissue sectioning and photoconvertible proteins combined with single-cell RNA sequencing. Now, Dr. Baldominos Flores is turning her focus upstream, probing the earliest immune events that allow tumors to take root in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joan Brugge, PhD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tumor initiation, immunoediting, cancer prevention and treatment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Uncovering the dynamic interplay between immune surveillance and mutational landscape during tumor initiation<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cEvery big problem originates from a small one, and cancers are no exception,\u201d says Dr. Pilar Baldominos Flores. While the immune system can often detect and eliminate cells with cancer-causing mutations, some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":35531,"template":"","tax_cancer_type":[455],"tax_grant_type":[486],"tax_award_year":[742],"tax_institutions":[516],"tax_location_states":[490],"class_list":["post-35577","cri_scientists","type-cri_scientists","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"scientist_subhead":"CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellow","quote":"","scientist_last_name":"Flores","show_on_landing":true,"scientist_publish_until":"20280629"},"yoast_head":"\nResearch Focus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Projects and Grants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n