Zeynep Madak-Erdogan

The Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) is reshaping its core leadership team, including three transitions in leadership positions by IGB members.

These changes reflect the institute’s continued evolution and build upon its history of research and education excellence. The new positions also underscore the CCIL’s strong commitment to leadership development and the growth of some of the institute’s most visionary members. Each new appointee contributed significantly to CCIL research, education, and outreach initiatives.

A new study by Zeynep Madak-Erdogan (CGD/EIRH/GSP) Associate Professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition and Cancer Center at Illinois Education Program Leader, and her team have found a new mechanism of endocrine resistance in breast cancers metastasized to the liver.

Exposure to PFAS – a class of synthetic chemicals utilized in food wrappers, nonstick cookware and other products – reprograms the metabolism of benign and malignant human prostate cells to a more energy efficient state that enables the cells to proliferate at three times the rate of nonexposed cells, a new study in mice found.

Postmenopausal women have increased risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease due to loss of estrogen from metabolic changes. A high-fat diet further exacerbates the disease, which can progress to cirrhosis and liver failure. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is an effective treatment, but it carries increased risk of breast cancer, uterine cancers, and cardiovascular disease.

Although cardiovascular disease is the main cause of illness among women in the U.S., certain conditions such as coronary microvascular disease (CMD) cannot be easily diagnosed. In a new study, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have identified specific biomarkers for CMD, which might reduce future hospitalizations.

When agrochemical and pharmaceutical companies develop new products, they must test extensively for potential toxicity before obtaining regulatory approval. This testing usually involves lengthy and expensive animal studies.

A research team at University of Illinois has developed a gene biomarker identification technique that cuts the testing process down to a few days while maintaining a high level of accuracy.

Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Erik Nelson (ACPP) has won a $4.5M Era of Hope Scholar Award from the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP). This prestigious award supports individuals early in their careers who have demonstrated significant potential to effect meaningful change in breast cancer research. Recipients of the Era of Hope Scholar Award are leaders and visionaries in their respective field who go beyond conventional thinking to change the current landscape of breast cancer research and therapy.

As a result of intersecting research interests in women’s health, a new collaboration was forged between Zeynep Madak-Erdogan (GSP/ONC-PM), Assistant Professor in Food Science and Human Nutrition, and Justina Zurauskiene (ONC-PM), Birmingham-Illinois Partnership for Discovery, Engagement and Education (BRIDGE) fellow and fellow at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences in Birmingham, England. Founded in 2014, the BRIDGE program is an ongoing partnership between the University of Birmingham and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Genomic technologies have the power to transform individual healthcare for the better. But with that power comes responsibility—the responsibility to protect the privacy of the individual and to make ethical choices that respect the rights of communities and populations.