Leah Cook, PhD

Leah Cook, PhD, and her lab are focused on investigation of cellular interactions within the tumor bone microenvironment that contribute to tumor progression, with a specific focus on immune cell-tumor interactions. Within bone, metastatic cancer cells highjack the normal couple process of bone remodeling, resulting in excess bone degradation and subsequent release of growth factors that promote tumor growth. Additionally, cancer cells progress and mediate bone turnover through molecular and cellular interactions with the surrounding bone stroma. Her lab is currently focusing on identifying the importance of neutrophils and/or granulocytic MDSCs in prostate cancer progression and cancer-induced bone disease using a combination of transcriptome and proteomic profiling of patient samples and mouse in vivo models of bone metastasis. Her goal is to identify novel immunotherapeutic targets for treating and curing bone metastatic cancers.

Courtesy of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Office of Strategic Communications