Robert Lafrenie
Professor
Health Sciences
Health Sciences North Research Institute
Canada
Biography
Dr. Lafrenie received a Bachelor's degree from the University of British Columbia in 1984. He then obtained his Master's and Doctorate degrees from McMaster University in 1989 and 1994 respectively. From 1993 until 1997 he was a visiting Fellow at the National Institute of Dental Health at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He has been a scientist at the Regional Cancer Centre in Sudbury since 1997.
Research Interest
Cell adhesion plays an important role in tissue structure and function. Most cells in our bodies adhere to their surrounding environment in order to survive and grow normally. The environment where the cell 'sticks' regulates many cellular processes including cell division and differentiation. One trait of cancers is that they do not show normal tissue organization and cell adhesion is not required for their survival. Tumours are relatively disorganized groups of cells. One of the projects carried out in Dr. Lafrenie's lab is to study how cell adhesion to different surroundings can regulate the activity of a cell and to determine how this knowledge can be translated to control cancer cell growth.
