Henry Ford + MSU Distinguished Cancer Research Lecture Series
Monthly Lecture Series | Third Wednesday | In-Person & Virtual
The Henry Ford + MSU Distinguished Cancer Research Lecture Series aims to highlight exciting, cutting-edge cancer research, generate new ideas, and build new collaborations among Henry Ford Health, Michigan State University, and researchers at other cancer centers.
Faculty members, research staff, graduate/medical students, and health care professionals are invited to join this hybrid seminar series. Lectures will be on the third Wednesday of every month from noon to 1 p.m. (EST/EDT), alternating between the Henry Ford Health campus in Detroit and the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing. Lunch will be provided for in-person attendees.
No registration is required to participate in the Henry Ford + MSU Distinguished Cancer Research Lecture Series.
LOCATION
Michigan State University Location:
Interdisciplinary Science Technology Building (ISTB)
Room 1404
766 Service Rd
East Lansing, MI
Henry Ford Health Location:
Henry Ford Hospital
Room ER2096
2799 W Grand Blvd
Detroit, MI
September 17, 2025: Oncogenic KRAS as a Regulator of the Local and Systemic Pancreatic Cancer Microenvironment
Teams Meeting Link | MSU Interdisciplinary Science Technology Building
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Marina Pasca di Magliano, Ph.D., is a Maud T Lane professor of surgical immunology and the co-director of the Pancreatic Cancer Laboratory at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her laboratory studies the role of oncogenic KRAS, the hallmark mutation of pancreatic cancer, in the regulation of the establishment and maintenance of the pancreatic cancer stroma. Magliano also published one of the early large-scale single-cell RNA sequencing studies on pancreatic cancer. More recently, her laboratory applied similar techniques to the normal pancreas, identifying widespread precursor lesions in the general population independently from age.
October 15, 2025: Targeting Lineage Plasticity in Pancreatic Cancer
Teams Meeting Link | Henry Ford Hospital
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Sita Kugel, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the human biology division and the co-director of the pancreatic cancer program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. The central theme of her research group is to study how the dysregulation of chromatin modifying enzymes contributes to hepatopancreaticobiliary cancers and, further, whether these pathways present liabilities that can be exploited for cancer therapy. Dr. Kugel is particularly interested in exploring the biology of different transcriptional and genetic subtypes of pancreatic cancer and cholangiocarcinoma. She is also interested in how the epigenome influences subtype determination and in discovering unifying biological characteristics that define these subtypes, which, with a deeper understanding, could lead to improved patient therapy.
Additional lecture dates will be announced in the coming weeks.
QUESTIONS
For any questions, please contact Henry Ford + MSU Cancer Project Coordinator Jenna Anheuser, janheus3@hfhs.org.
Learn more about the Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences partnership here.