Michael Hemann
Scientist
Ludwig Center at MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
United States of America
Biography
My laboratory is focused on understanding how nests of tumor cells, termed Minimal Residual Disease, or MRD, can survive for a sustained period of time in a dormant state after chemotherapy. Our work has led to the identification of specific tissue microenvironments that promote the survival of tumor cells after treatment. By understanding how these anatomical sites protect cancer cells, we have been able to develop strategies to resensitize tumors to front-line chemotherapy. Importantly, metastatic disease shows many of the characteristics of MRD. Hence, our work should lead to novel strategies to sensitize drug-resistant metastatic cells to existing therapies.
Research Interest
Cancer biology, chemotherapy, cancer progression
Publications
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Luke Gilbert and Michael Hemann. DNA damage mediated induction of a chemoresistant niche. Cell (2010) 143:1-12.
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Justin Pritchard, Luke Gilbert, Corbin Meacham, Jennifer Ricks, Hai Jiang, Douglas Lauffenburger, and Michael Hemann. BCL-2 family genetic profiling reveals microenvironment-specific determinants of therapeutic response. Cancer Research (2011) 71(17):5850-5858.
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Luke Gilbert and Michael Hemann. Context-specific roles for paracrine IL-6 in lymphomagenesis. Genes & Dev. (2012) 26(15):1758-68.
