Concern Foundation’s 2020-2022 Grant Recipient Dr. Marjan Rafat, Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University

Please watch a conversation with: Dr. Marjan Rafat, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Vanderbilt University as she discusses her new project funded by Concern Foundation: “Radiation-Induced Pre-Metastatic Niche Formation in Breast Cancer Recurrence"

Dr. Rafat’s laboratory is interested in combining engineering and cancer biology concepts to examine the mechanisms driving tumor recurrence and metastasis. Most studies focus solely on tumors and tumor cells but ignore the contribution of the normal tissues that surround and interact with tumor cells to disease progression. They study the relationship between tumor cells, normal tissues, and the immune system as a means of understanding the microenvironment to determine how each component contributes to metastasis and relapse after therapy.

Her laboratory aims to develop bio-inspired hydrogel materials and in vitro tumor- and tissue-on-a-chip models by learning from in vivo mouse models. Specifically, the collateral effect of radiation and surgery of normal tissues on tumor and immune cell migration patterns, the molecular profiles of normal tissues wounded from therapy, and the changes in the biomechanical properties of the tumor microenvironment and surrounding normal tissues following therapy.

 Dr. Rafat and her team will analyze the physical, chemical, and biological cues that influence cancer metastasis and recurrence at the interface of engineering and medicine. These studies will ultimately enable the design of optimized cancer therapeutics.