Happy holidays from the Venkatesh lab!!🎄🌟

So proud of rising cancer neuroscience superstars @SavchukSol and Hannah Farnsworth on their beautiful presentations defining neuron brain tumor interactions at #SNO2024!

Last chance to register for the final day of our Virtual Cancer Neuroscience workshop Oct 21. Hear directly from the experts in the field as we discuss neuron-cancer interactions in & outside the brain! @michelle_monje @HerveyJumper @Winkler_Lab @sloanlab.

Don't forget Day 2 of the Virtual Cancer Neuroscience Course focusing on Neurobiology 101 is this Friday 10/11. Register now to hear an outstanding lineup of speakers!

Don't forget to register for our Virtual Course in Cancer Neuroscience Workshop. Day 1 - Cancer Biology for Neuroscientists! We have a wonderful group of speakers breaking down the basics of cancer biology!.

Beautiful and important work by @DanielaRojo_PdD @ErinMGibson and the rest of the team! Congratulations on a stellar story!!.

So honored to be selected as this year's Wachtel Prize recipient! Thank you to everyone at @ScienceTM and @NCIResearchCtr for a wonderful trip to the NIH and for highlighting our work #cancerneuroscience.

Such a wonderful event that I was lucky enough to organize with the wonderful @FilbinMariella! Thank you to all the amazing speakers, faculty and trainees who participated!.

9/ Grateful for generous support from .@CHoodFoundation.@HHMINews.@CRUKresearch.@NINDSnews.@theNCI.@Ludwig_Cancer.@sontagfdn.@chadtough.@DefeatDIPG

8/ Happy to share that fantastic, complementary studies done by Filippo Beleggia @fbeleggia and @chr_reinhardt similarly found SCLC cells utilize glutamatergic signaling to promote tumor growth.

7/ Working with pulmonary biologists @YinLiu17 & Mark Krasnow and SCLC experts @SageJulien Fangfei Qu, we found that #vagus nerve transection starkly inhibits primary SCLC tumor formation in the lung, highlighting a critical role for innervation in SCLC initiation and progression

6/ Neurons induce phenotypic plasticity, switching #SCLC cells towards an astrocytic phenotype in the brain. These astrocyte-like SCLC cells contribute to hyperexcitability in neighboring neurons, further driving neuron-SCLC interactions.

5/ Direct SCLC cell membrane depolarization is sufficient to promote the growth of SCLC tumors.

4/ Experiments done by the phenomenal electrophysiologist Wengang Wang and @blsabatini demonstrate that SCLC cells exhibit electrical currents and consequent calcium transients in response to neuronal activity.

3/ Here, we show that metastatic #SCLC cells in the brain co-opt neuronal activity-regulated mechanisms to promote growth and progression. Optogenetic stimulation of cortical neuronal activity drives proliferation and invasion of SCLC brain metastases.

2/ Neurons and nerves regulate progression of several tumor types both in and outside of the central nervous system, but the extent to which the nervous system regulates lung cancer progression, either in the lung or when metastatic to brain, had yet to be explored.

1/ Pre-print alert! Our new study led by talented @StanfordMed student @SavchukSol together with @michelle_monje illustrates that neuronal activity regulates the progression of small cell lung cancer #SCLC in the lung and brain. #CancerNeuroscience. 🧵…

Very grateful to be joining such a wonderful community of scientists! @sontagfdn.

Beautiful new work illustrating the role of interneurons in #DMG growth with exciting therapeutic implications! Congrats @TaraBarronPhD and @michelle_monje! #CancerNeuroscience.

Don't forget to register for this outstanding talk! @GutmannLab Dr. David Gutmann will be discussing the neural regulation of pediatric brain tumor progression. Tomorrow 9am PST / 12pm EST @CancerNeurosci @michelle_monje Register here: