A visit with Dr. Scott Atwood at the University of California, Irvine

Basal Cell Carcinoma, a type of skin cancer, is the most common cancer in the world, with over 4 million individuals affected by it every year in the United States alone. 

While it is easily treated if detected in early stages, there are a small percentage of advanced stage patients who don’t respond to treatment and develop drug resistance. Dr. Scott Atwood, current Conquer Cancer Now Grant Recipient at the University of California, Irvine, is investigating this phenomenon.

Dr. Atwood’s lab looks at how basal cell carcinomas form, progress and become resistant to drugs. They are using a model and a new sequencing technique to observe changes in signaling pathways in cells to see if they’re able to determine what enhances or suppresses drug resistance. 

This new method allows Dr. Atwood to compare individual cells and group them by specific characteristics. The model looks at what characteristic changes and mutations occur in those pathways before tumors develop, when they arise, and then when they become advanced and resistant. 

This single cell sequencing has also led to his discovery of four new kinds of stem cells in the skin where there was previously only thought to be one. Dr. Atwood’s research has the potential to lead to new treatments in advanced resistant cases of this cancer.