Dr. Franco Vizeacoumar BSc, PhD
Senior Research Scientist, Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, Professor in Oncology and Associate Member Pathology, University of Saskatchewan
- Address
- Office: Health Sciences Room 4D01.5
A key message from the current genomic studies is that therapeutic approaches should aim at the genetic basis rather than the tissue of origin. This knowledge and the availability of highly selective inhibitors of gene products, promises personalized medicine through a genotype-directed cancer therapy. My lab is directly involved developing such a genotype-directed cancer therapy for solid tumors by applying a basic biological concept called synthetic lethality. In effect, any genetic alteration that can cause selective-lethality with an oncogenic or a tumor suppressor mutation can be potentially translated into a therapeutic target. Our long term goal is to build a synthetic lethal network that will enable us to understand the genetic dependencies of cancer cells and define key therapeutic targets.