Breast Cancer Dormancy: A Link to the Past

Luca Magnani graduated from his bachelor’s and master’s degree at the University of Bologna. During an exchange visit to Purdue University, he discovered his interest in early embryogenesis. Dr. Magnani’s work took him to Michigan State University, where he continued his research on mouse embryogenesis and more specifically on chromatin remodelling ATPases. In 2009, he made a significant shift in his research focus and began to investigate how cancer cells leverage the same processes that drive development to evolve drug resistance. Working with Professor Mathieu Lupien at Dartmouth College and the University of Toronto, he unearthed new insights into epigenetic reprogramming during tumour evolution. He started his laboratory at Imperial College London in 2013 as an Imperial College Research Fellow before becoming a CRUK fellow and the Imperial Chair in Cancer Adaptation and Evolution. His laboratory is interested in hormone dependent breast cancer and the use of genomics and epigenomics paradigms as well as convergent science approaches to understand how the tumour starts and evolve. Their goal is to develop novel strategies to target dormant cells as they believe this could dramatically improve the outcome for hormone dependent breast cancer patients.