Page 13 - Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre Annual Report 2023 to 2024

11th Annual Mike and Dianne Traynor
Lectureship in Neuro-Oncology
The annual Traynor Lectureship, now in its 11th year, hosted
Dr. Antonio Iavarone and his seminar titled “Next Generation
Multi-omics Classification and Therapeutic Stratification of
Glioblastoma.” Dr. Iavarone is a Professor of Neurological
Surgery and Deputy Director of the Sylvester Comprehensive
Cancer Center at the University of Miami, Miller School
of Medicine. His research dissects the role of proteins
and networks that drive phenotypic states in normal
and cancerous brain cells. Using global and unbiased
approaches, his team identifies genetic and transcriptional
drivers of the mesenchymal transformation in high-grade
gliomas, a key feature of glioblastoma (GBM) contributing
to its aggressive nature. Recently, Dr. Iavarone’s team
discovered FGFR-TACC gene fusions in a subset of GBM
patients. This breakthrough has led to the development of
preclinical models and the design of clinical trials targeting
these fusions for personalized cancer treatment.
Dr. Antonio Iavarone with Dr. James Rutka
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 PREVIOUS LABATT BTRC ACADEMIC GUEST LECTURERS
Dr. Robert Martuza, Georgetown University
Dr. Gregory Cairncross, Western University
Dr. David Kaplan, Montreal Neurological Institute
Dr. Charles Stiles, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Dr. Luis Parada, University of Texas
Dr. Eric Holland, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Dr. Darell Bigner, Duke Cancer Institute
Dr. Webster Cavenee, Ludwig Institute
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Dr. David H. Gutmann, St. Louis Children’s Hospital
2016 Dr. Henry Brem, Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Joe Costello, UC San Francisco
Dr. Waldemar Debinski, Wake Forest University
Dr. Kenneth Aldape, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Inder Verma, Salk Institute
Dr. Fred Lang, University of Texas
Dr. William Weiss, UC San Francisco
Dr. Robert Wechsler-Reya, Sanford Burnham Institute
Dr. Jeremy Rich, Cleveland Clinic
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Dr. Nada Jabado, McGill University
Dr. Mitchel S. Berger, UC San Francisco
Dr. Roel Verhaak, The Jackson Laboratory
Dr. Michelle Monje, Stanford University
Dr. Marco Marra, University of British Columbia
Dr. Amy Heimberger, Northwestern University
Dr. Maciej Lesniak, Northwestern University
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