Dr. Miho Iijima delivers talk on role of PTEN in cancer

Dr. Miho Iijima, Associate Professor at John Hopkins School of Medicine, visited St. Joseph’s Hospital on Friday, November 17 to deliver a talk on the role of a protein called “phosphatase and tensin homolog” (PTEN) in cancer.

The talk was organized by the Department of Ophthalmology. Dr. Sunil Parapuram, scientist at Lawson who invited Dr. Iijima, has been collaborating with her to study the role of PTEN in fibrosis.

Dr. Iijima’s talk focused specifically on controlling PTEN localization and function in cancer. Mutations and deletions in the gene encoding PTEN are associated with many cancers and autism. Dr. Iijima’s laboratory recently discovered a new class of cancer and autism-associated PTEN mutations that specifically interfere with membrane association. During her talk, Dr. Iijima discussed how PTEN is recruited to the plasma membrane and how enhancing the membrane recruitment of PTEN suppresses oncogenic signaling in cancer.

"Dr. Miho Iijima gave a very informative talk about the meticulous work her laboratory is doing about controlling the location and function of PTEN,” said Dr. Parapuram. “Her visit also provided an opportunity to reinvigorate the collaboration between our labs on the role of PTEN in fibrosis.”

To learn more about Dr. Iijima’s research, please visit the John Hopkins School of Medicine’s website.