Peter Coopman

Biography

  His major research focus is the Breast cancerand it  is the most common invasive cancer in women and metastatic spread is the main cause of treatment failure and mortality. The identification of reliable prognostic/predictive markers and the development of more effective and specific therapeutic targets are critical public health issues. At the cellular level, protein phosphorylation acts as a switch in several signaling pathways involved in the control of cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion. Amongst these proteins, several tyrosine kinases (eg HER2) have proven to be useful both as prognostic and/or predictive markers, as well as valuable therapeutic targets with the development of humanized monoclonal antibodies and tyrosine kinase inhibitors.   The major goal of our team is to identify new signaling pathways involved in the induction and regulation of invasive and metastatic capacities of breast cancer cells by focusing on the phosphorylation of particular proteins. Our studies are initially based on two kinases (Syk and PKCθ) and one phosphatase (PTPL1) which we identified to be either pro- or anti-oncogenic in breast cancer. In parallel, we also seek to identify new signaling proteins involved in invasion by global searches (such as proteomics, siRNA screening, ...).   As experimental approaches, we use mass spectrometry, dynamic and quantitative cell imaging, cell and molecular biology, biochemistry and systems biology. Our observations are then verified in mouse models and clinical studies. This "bench-to-bedside-and-back" approach will allow to identify new signaling networks and potential therapeutic targets and integrate these into a more complete picture of invasion-related signaling with clinical relevance.

Research Interest

 Oncology