Charles Seminar Series 2020-21:Skin cancer stem cells: from inception to beyond, with guest speaker Dr Girish K Patel, Wednesday 16th June at 12PM (via Zoom)
Date of Talk: 16th June 2021 at 12PM
Talk Title: Skin cancer stem cells: from inception to beyond
Speaker Details; Affiliation: Dr Girish K Patel, European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute, Cardiff University, Wales.
Keywords: Adult tissue stem cells, skin cancer, cancer stem cells
Short Biography: Prof. Girish Patel, MB BS, MD, FRCP(UK), is Consultant Dermatologist at the Welsh Institute of Dermatology, University Hospital of Wales and Honorary Professor in Cardiff University. He trained in dermatology at the St. Johns Institute of Dermatology (London), Welsh Institute of Dermatology (Cardiff) and National Cancer Institute (NIH, USA). He is recipient of a number of awards, including the Geoffrey Dowling Fellowship (2004), the most prestigious fellowship awarded by the British Association of Dermatologists; Post-Doctoral Visiting Fellows Research Fellowship (2004), National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health; NIH Merit Award (2006), National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health; NISCHR Clinical Research Fellowship (2012). His research group studies cancer stem cells in the common human skin cancers: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma.
Abstract for talk: The evolution of skin cancer is attributed to the mutagenic effect of sun exposure on epidermal cells, which due to insufficient DNA repair, are transformed and are able to escape immune surveillance. Dermatologists recognise actinic keratoses, Bowenoid actinic keratosis, and Bowens disease as the earliest manifestations of a transformed “pre-malignant” epidermis. Added to which, epidemiological studies have determined for each lesion the attributed risk of transformation to keratinocyte carcinoma. When multiple such lesions develop within an area, referred to as field cancerisation, the risk of progression to cancer is very much greater than the sum of the individual lesions. Our findings suggest that not all epidermal cells are equals in this process and that the ensuing tumours demonstrate a pre-programmed hierarchical expansion, with implications for tumour biology and clinical interventions.
If you are UCD-affiliated or a Consultant Dermatologist in Ireland and would like to register for this talk, please email charles@ucd.ie
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