RESEARCH FOCUS

Dr. Messersmith’s lab is mainly focused on using a personalized approach in developing new anticancer drugs for GI cancers. In particular, the lab uses a novel colorectal and pancreatic explant model whereby tumor tissue is obtained from the operating room and then placed directly into mice. Tumors are treated with new drugs and predictive biomarkers of sensitivity are discovered. These predictive markers are used in the clinic to pre-select patients that would most likely derive benefit from these new drugs. Additionally, these tumors are evaluated in orthotopic and metastatic models. Current anticancer drugs in the lab target Notch (g-secretase), Src, and hedgehog pathways.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Benson AB, Venook AP, Al-Hawary MM, Arain MA, Chen YJ, Ciombor KK, Cohen S, Cooper HS, Deming D, Garrido-Laguna I, Grem JL, Gunn A, Hoffe S, Hubbard J, Hunt S, Kirilcuk N, Krishnamurthi S, Messersmith WA, Meyerhardt J, Miller ED, Mulcahy MF, Nurkin S, Overman MJ, Parikh A, Patel H, Pedersen K, Saltz L, Schneider C, Shibata D, Skibber JM, Sofocleous CT, Stoffel EM, Stotsky-Himelfarb E, Willett CG, Johnson-Chilla A, Gurski LA. NCCN Guidelines Insights: Rectal Cancer, Version 6.2020. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2020 Jul;18(7):806-815. doi: 10.6004/jnccn.2020.0032. PMID: 32634771.

Weiss J, Glode A, Messersmith WA, Diamond J. Sacituzumab govitecan: breakthrough targeted therapy for triple-negative breast cancer. Expert Rev Anticancer Ther. 2019 Aug;19(8):673-679. doi: 10.1080/14737140.2019.1654378. Epub 2019 Aug 19. PMID: 31398063.    

Benson AB, Venook AP, Al-Hawary MM, Cederquist L, Chen YJ, Ciombor KK, Cohen S, Cooper HS, Deming D, Engstrom PF, Garrido-Laguna I, Grem JL, Grothey A, Hochster HS, Hoffe S, Hunt S, Kamel A, Kirilcuk N, Krishnamurthi S, Messersmith WA, Meyerhardt J, Miller ED, Mulcahy MF, Murphy JD, Nurkin S, Saltz L, Sharma S, Shibata D, Skibber JM, Sofocleous CT, Stoffel EM, Stotsky-Himelfarb E, Willett CG, Wuthrick E, Gregory KM, Freedman-Cass DA. NCCN Guidelines Insights: Colon Cancer, Version 2.2018. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2018 Apr;16(4):359-369. doi: 10.6004/jnccn.2018.0021. PMID: 29632055.   

Full list of publications