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Pancreatic Transdisciplinary Cancer Team

The goal of the Pancreatic Transdisciplinary Cancer Team is to bring expertise from different disciplines in basic and clinical research to advance our understanding of pancreatic cancer and to translate that information to clinical trials to improve patient care in South Carolina.

The team consists of members with expertise in basic biology, oncology, pathology, surgery, population science, pharmacology, engineering, and informatics and biostatistics.

Co-Leaders

Denis C. Guttridge, Ph.D.

Associate Director of Translational Science, Hollings Cancer Center
Director & Professor, Darby Children’s Research Institute
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Denis C. Guttridge, Ph.D., joined MUSC in 2018 as the Hollings Cancer Center associate director of translational science and the director of the Charles P. Darby Children’s Research Institute. Guttridge holds a robust research funding portfolio and has authored more than 130 peer-reviewed publications. He has received numerous recognitions for his contributions to cancer research and his dedication to fostering multidisciplinary and collaborative science.

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William Hawkins, M.D., FACS

Deputy Director, Hollings Cancer Center
Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs, Department of Surgery
Professor, College of Medicine - Surgery
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As deputy director of MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, William Hawkins, M.D., focuses on strengthening translational research and increasing clinical trials across South Carolina.

With a longstanding commitment to leadership, patient care, education and research, Hawkins has expertise in investigating pancreatic cancer. He is also a professor in the Department of Surgery at MUSC and in the Division of Surgical Oncology.

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Team Members

Tim Barnoud, Ph.D. Hazel Breland, Ph.D. Toros Dincman, M.D., Ph.D.
Nathan Dolloff, Ph.D. Richard Drake, Ph.D. Marvella Ford, Ph.D.
Saverio Gentile, Ph.D. Mark Hamann, Ph.D. Lu Han, Ph.D.
Aaron Hobbs, Ph.D. Brenda Hoffman, M.D. Nancy Klauber-DeMore, M.D.
Craig Lockhart, M.D. David Marshall, M.D. John O'Bryan, Ph.D.
Besim Ogretmen, Ph.D. Michael Ostrowski, Ph.D. Sophie Paczesny, M.D., Ph.D.
Kevin K. Roggin, M.D. Russell Spencer-Smith, Ph.D. Ozlem Yilmaz, D.D.S, Ph.D.

 Badih Joseph Elmunzer, M.D. Reeder Robinson, Ph.D.
Erin Forster, M.D.  Sudarshana Sharma, Ph.D.
 David Lewin, M.D.  David Wang, M.D., Ph.D.
 Robert Moran, M.D.  Hongjun Wang, Ph.D.

Farah Alfatyan, Ph.D.  Mubashir Mintoo, Ph.D. 
 Lucas Bialousow  Roushney Mukti
 Rachel Burge  Krishna Ramajayam, Ph.D.
 Xiaoyan Chen, Ph.D.  Lety Reyes
 Ben Christopher  Ulyss (Karl) Roesner
 Emma Funk  Samaneh Saberikashani, Ph.D.
 George Hanna  Devadoss Samuvel, Ph.D.
 Nour Hijazi  Kamala Sundararaj, Ph.D.
 Caroline Kittrell  Nadia St. Thomas
 Katie Marelia, Ph.D.  Tarah Trebino, Ph.D.
 Dian Mayasari, Ph.D.  Abasi-ama Udeme
 Spencer Miller, Ph.D.

Arash Velayati, M.D.

Jane Talbot

Elizabeth O’Quinn

2025 Presentation Schedule

January 14

“Function of GDF15/GFRAL as an Immune Modulator in PDAC Development”

Emma Funk
Graduate Student (Guttridge Lab)
MUSC

February 11

“Progress on Targeting RAS: Insights from Anti-RAS Biologics”

John O'Bryan, Ph.D.
Professor, Pharmacology and Immunology
MUSC

March 11

“The Role of Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Protein-3 in a Murine Model of PDAC-related Skeletal Muscle Wasting”

Calvin Cole, Ph.D.
University of Rochester

April 8

“KRAS(G12R) Murine Models Reveal Distinct Tumor Microenvironment Characteristics and Differential KRAS-PI3K Signaling Reliance in Pancreatic Cancer”

Rachel Burge
Graduate Student (Hobbs Lab)
MUSC

May 13

“Is a picture only worth a thousand words? Imaging Mass Cytometry at Hollings Cancer Center”

Jacob Kendrick
Director of Operations, Flow Cytometry Shared Resource, HCC
MUSC

June 10

“Updates from the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center Office of Community Outreach and Engagement”

Marvella Ford, Ph.D.
Professor, Public Health Sciences
MUSC

July 8

“Multimodal Spatial-omic Tissue Analysis of the Pancreatic Tumor, Stroma and Immune Microenvironment”

Caroline Kittrell
Graduate Student (Drake Lab)
MUSC

August 12

Reeder Robinson, Ph.D. Postdoc (Dolloff Lab)
MUSC

September 9

“Persistence of Fetal Gene Programs Regulates Heterogeneity, Lineage and Function of Pancreatic Cancer Associated Fibroblasts”

Farah Alfatyan, Ph.D.
Postdoc (Han Lab)
MUSC

October 14

“HSP70 in Pancreatic Cancer — Novel Functions and Therapeutic Vulnerabilities”

Tim Barnoud, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
MUSC

November

“Talbot Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Reception”

December 9

“FOLFIRINOX and Immunity in the Battle against Pancreatic Cancer”

Ramsay Camp, M.D.
Baylor University

January 9

"Dysregulation of PTEN Expression in a Subset of Cancer Associated Fibroblasts Promotes an Immune Suppressive Microenvironment in PDAC"

Ivo Woogeng, Ph.D.
Postdoc (Ostrowski Lab)
MUSC

February 13

"Novel Therapeutic Approaches for PDAC"

William Hawkins, M.D.
Professor, Surgery
MUSC

March 12

"Overview of Community Outreach and Engagement at Hollings Cancer Center and Opportunities for Collaboration"

Marvella Ford, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Population Science and Community Outreach and Engagement
Professor, Public Health Sciences
MUSC

April 16

"Review Highlights from AACR Conference, San Diego"

May 16

"Genomic Changes and Stromal Features Associated with Clinical Outcomes in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma"

Toros Dincman, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Medicine
MUSC

June 11

"Best Practices for Translational and Clinical Investigators Using a Biorepository"

Angela Yoon, D.D.S.
Director, Biorepository and Tissue Analysis Shared Resource
Professor, Stormatology
MUSC

July 9

"Multimodal Spatial-omic Tissue Analysis of the Pancreatic Tumor, Stroma and Immune Microenvironment"

Richard Drake, Ph.D.
Professor, Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
MUSC

August 13

"Enhancement of Mouse Models of PDAC"

David Wang, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics
MUSC

September 10

"HSP70 in Cancer: New Functions and Therapeutic Opportunities"

Tim Barbour, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
MUSC

October 8

"Review Highlights from AACR Pancreatic Conference, Boston"

November 21

"Talbot Pancreatic Awareness Reception"

December 10

"Protective Mechanisms in Pancreatic b-cells: From Antiviral to Antioxidants"

Jennifer Stancil, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
MUSC

February 21

“KRAS Targeted Therapies for Pancreatic Cancer”

Aaron Hobbs, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
MUSC

John P. O'Bryan, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
MUSC

March 21

“Optimizing a Model of Pancreatic Cancer to Enhance the Human Phenotype of Metastasis and Cachexia”

Victoria Spadafora
Graduate Student (Guttridge Lab) MUSC

April 18

“New Biotherapeutic Strategies to Stimulate Anti-PDAC Immune Responses”

Nate Dolloff, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
MUSC

May 16

“Pten-Stat3 Autoregulatory Loop Modulates the Immune Microenvironment in Pancreatic Cancer”

Sameneh Saberi, Ph.D.
Postdoc (Ostrowski Lab)
MUSC

June 20

“Secreted Frizzled Related-Protein 2 is Prognostic for Human Pancreatic Cancer Survival and Associated with Fibrosis”

Julie B. Siegel, M.D.
Surgical Resident (Klauber-DeMore Lab)
MUSC

July 18

“Using scRNA Sequencing to Reassess the Role of Muscle Progenitor Cells in Cancer Cachexia”

Spencer Miller, Ph.D.
Postdoc (Guttridge Lab)
MUSC

August 15

“Update in Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Trials”

Craig Lockhart, M.D.
Division Chief, Division of Hematology and Oncology
MUSC

September 19

“The KRAS Crowd Targets its Next Cancer Mutations: Revolution Medicines Finally Enter the Game”

Aaron Hobbs, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
MUSC

October 17

“Highlights from the 2023 AACR Pancreatic Cancer Conference: Boston, MA”

Trainee Presenters: Lu Han, Ph.D., Benjamin Christopher, Samaneh Saberikashani, Ph.D., and Ivo Woogeng, Ph.D.
MUSC

November 14

“Discovering New Vulnerabilities in RAS using Novel Biologics”

John P. O’Bryan, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
MUSC

November 17
Talbot Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Reception Keynote Lecture

“Targeting the Tumor Microenvironment to Enhance Response to Immunotherapy”

David DeNardo, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Medicine
Washington University

December 12

“KRASG12R Pancreatic Cancer is Reliant on KRAS-independent PI3K Signaling and PTEN Inactivation”

Rachel Burge
Graduate Student (Hobbs Lab)
MUSC

January 18

“Investigating the role of ceramides in muscle wasting in pancreatic cancer-induced cachexia”

Victoria Spadafora
Ph.D. Student (Guttridge Lab)
MUSC

February 15

“Novel insights into therapeutic targeting of KRAS: conventional wisdom is not always right!”

John P. O'Bryan, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
MUSC

March 15

Joint meeting with Colon TCT: “Novartis GI pipeline presentation”

April 19

“New biotherapeutics for the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma”

Nate Dolloff, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
MUSC

May 17

“The Stat3/Pten Axis in the PDAC macroenvironment”

Mike Ostrowski, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
MUSC

June 21

“Locoregional treatments for inoperable pancreatic cancer”

Thor Johnson, M.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Radiology and Radiological Science
MUSC

July 19

“KRASG12R allele-specific metabolic reprogramming alters therapeutic sensitivity”

Aaron Hobbs, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
MUSC

August 16

“New resources: organoids and orthotopic models for PDAC”

Aaron Hobbs, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
MUSC

David Wang, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
MUSC

September 20

“Origin and heterogeneity of pancreatic cancer associated fibroblasts”

Lu Han, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (Ostrowski Lab)
MUSC

October 18

“Progress toward the total synthesis of Aleutianamine: a highly potent and selective inhibitor of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro”

Scott Wyer
Ph.D. Student (Hamann Lab)
MUSC

November 15

“Defining the KRAS mutant specific interactome in pancreatic cancer”

Rachel Burge
Ph.D. Student (Hobbs Lab)
MUSC

December 13

“Update on GI clinical trials: current studies and future directions”

William Lancaster, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery
MUSC