Tavazoie Lab https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/news.html Laboratory of Systems Cancer Biology at The Rockefeller University quarto-1.9.37 Thu, 15 Jan 2026 05:00:00 GMT Congratulations to Veena Padmanaban on starting her own lab at Johns Hopkins! Tavazoie Lab https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/news-update/posts/2026-01-padmanaban-lab.html We are over the moon to congratulate Veena Padmanaban on launching her independent research group at Johns Hopkins University.

Veena’s time in the lab established a new axis of cancer research — the role of sensory neurons in driving breast cancer metastasis — and she leaves us as one of the most decorated trainees in our history. Her independent program at Hopkins will continue to push at the frontier of cancer biology. We can’t wait to see what she discovers next.

]]> alumni lab news https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/news-update/posts/2026-01-padmanaban-lab.html Thu, 15 Jan 2026 05:00:00 GMT Congratulations to Veena Padmanaban on starting her own lab at Johns Hopkins! Tavazoie Lab https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/posts/2026-01-padmanaban-lab.html We are over the moon to congratulate Veena Padmanaban on launching her independent research group at Johns Hopkins University.

Veena’s time in the lab established a new axis of cancer research — the role of sensory neurons in driving breast cancer metastasis — and she leaves us as one of the most decorated trainees in our history. Her independent program at Hopkins will continue to push at the frontier of cancer biology. We can’t wait to see what she discovers next.

]]> alumni lab news https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/posts/2026-01-padmanaban-lab.html Thu, 15 Jan 2026 05:00:00 GMT Congratulations to Wenbin Mei on graduation and a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellowship! Tavazoie Lab https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/news-update/posts/2025-06-mei-graduation-damon-runyon.html Double congratulations to Wenbin Mei on completing his PhD and on being named a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow — one of the most competitive postdoctoral awards in cancer research.

The Damon Runyon fellowship will support the next chapter of Wenbin’s career as he extends his work on the genetics of cancer progression. We’re thrilled for him.

]]> recognition lab news https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/news-update/posts/2025-06-mei-graduation-damon-runyon.html Sun, 15 Jun 2025 04:00:00 GMT Congratulations to Wenbin Mei on graduation and a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellowship! Tavazoie Lab https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/posts/2025-06-mei-graduation-damon-runyon.html Double congratulations to Wenbin Mei on completing his PhD and on being named a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow — one of the most competitive postdoctoral awards in cancer research.

The Damon Runyon fellowship will support the next chapter of Wenbin’s career as he extends his work on the genetics of cancer progression. We’re thrilled for him.

]]> recognition lab news https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/posts/2025-06-mei-graduation-damon-runyon.html Sun, 15 Jun 2025 04:00:00 GMT Congratulations to Veena Padmanaban on the Blavatnik Prize and Rockefeller Breakthrough Prize! Tavazoie Lab https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/news-update/posts/2025-05-padmanaban-blavatnik.html Tremendous congratulations to Veena Padmanaban on a remarkable double honor: winning the Blavatnik Regional Award for Young Scientists and being named Rockefeller University’s Breakthrough Prize recipient.

These awards recognize Veena’s groundbreaking work identifying a sensory-neuron-driven axis of breast cancer metastasis — a discovery that has opened an entirely new direction in cancer biology. Couldn’t be prouder.

]]> recognition lab news https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/news-update/posts/2025-05-padmanaban-blavatnik.html Thu, 15 May 2025 04:00:00 GMT Congratulations to Veena Padmanaban on the Blavatnik Prize and Rockefeller Breakthrough Prize! Tavazoie Lab https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/posts/2025-05-padmanaban-blavatnik.html Tremendous congratulations to Veena Padmanaban on a remarkable double honor: winning the Blavatnik Regional Award for Young Scientists and being named Rockefeller University’s Breakthrough Prize recipient.

These awards recognize Veena’s groundbreaking work identifying a sensory-neuron-driven axis of breast cancer metastasis — a discovery that has opened an entirely new direction in cancer biology. Couldn’t be prouder.

]]> recognition lab news https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/posts/2025-05-padmanaban-blavatnik.html Thu, 15 May 2025 04:00:00 GMT Congratulations to Wenbin Mei on being awarded the prestigious Weintraub Award! Tavazoie Lab https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/news-update/posts/2025-05-mei-weintraub.html Huge congratulations to Wenbin Mei on receiving the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award — one of the highest honors in graduate biological research. The award recognizes the quality, originality, and significance of graduate research, and Wenbin’s work on the inherited PCSK9 variant driving breast cancer metastasis exemplifies all of these.

Wonderfully deserved.

]]> recognition lab news https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/news-update/posts/2025-05-mei-weintraub.html Thu, 01 May 2025 04:00:00 GMT Congratulations to Wenbin Mei on being awarded the prestigious Weintraub Award! Tavazoie Lab https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/posts/2025-05-mei-weintraub.html Huge congratulations to Wenbin Mei on receiving the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award — one of the highest honors in graduate biological research. The award recognizes the quality, originality, and significance of graduate research, and Wenbin’s work on the inherited PCSK9 variant driving breast cancer metastasis exemplifies all of these.

Wonderfully deserved.

]]> recognition lab news https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/posts/2025-05-mei-weintraub.html Thu, 01 May 2025 04:00:00 GMT Wenbin Mei’s Cell paper on PCSK9 and inherited breast cancer metastasis risk Tavazoie Lab https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/news-update/posts/2025-01-mei-cell.html Congratulations to Wenbin Mei and the team on their Cell paper: A commonly inherited human PCSK9 germline variant drives breast cancer metastasis via LRP1 receptor.

A commonly inherited PCSK9 germline variant promotes breast cancer metastasis through LRP1 signaling, identifying a heritable driver of metastatic risk and a candidate therapeutic axis.

Read the paper

]]> publication genetics https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/news-update/posts/2025-01-mei-cell.html Wed, 15 Jan 2025 05:00:00 GMT Wenbin Mei’s Cell paper on PCSK9 and inherited breast cancer metastasis risk Tavazoie Lab https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/posts/2025-01-mei-cell.html Congratulations to Wenbin Mei and the team on their Cell paper: A commonly inherited human PCSK9 germline variant drives breast cancer metastasis via LRP1 receptor.

A commonly inherited PCSK9 germline variant promotes breast cancer metastasis through LRP1 signaling, identifying a heritable driver of metastatic risk and a candidate therapeutic axis.

Read the paper

]]> publication genetics https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/posts/2025-01-mei-cell.html Wed, 15 Jan 2025 05:00:00 GMT Veena Padmanaban’s Nature paper on sensory neurons and metastasis Tavazoie Lab https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/news-update/posts/2024-01-padmanaban-nature.html Congratulations to Veena Padmanaban and the team on their Nature paper: Neuronal substance P drives metastasis through an extracellular RNA-TLR7 axis.

We have found that during breast cancer progression, primary tumors become increasingly innervated by sensory neurons. Cancer cells enhance the activity of these neurons, leading to the release of sensory neuropeptides that act back on the cancer cells to promote invasiveness and metastatic growth. Our current work investigates how cancer cells activate sensory neurons, how neuropeptides elicit pro-metastatic gene-expression programs, and how these neuro-cancer interactions evolve across tumor types.

Read the paper

]]> publication neuroscience https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/news-update/posts/2024-01-padmanaban-nature.html Mon, 15 Jan 2024 05:00:00 GMT Veena Padmanaban’s Nature paper on sensory neurons and metastasis Tavazoie Lab https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/posts/2024-01-padmanaban-nature.html Congratulations to Veena Padmanaban and the team on their Nature paper: Neuronal substance P drives metastasis through an extracellular RNA-TLR7 axis.

We have found that during breast cancer progression, primary tumors become increasingly innervated by sensory neurons. Cancer cells enhance the activity of these neurons, leading to the release of sensory neuropeptides that act back on the cancer cells to promote invasiveness and metastatic growth. Our current work investigates how cancer cells activate sensory neurons, how neuropeptides elicit pro-metastatic gene-expression programs, and how these neuro-cancer interactions evolve across tumor types.

Read the paper

]]> publication neuroscience https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/posts/2024-01-padmanaban-nature.html Mon, 15 Jan 2024 05:00:00 GMT Congratulations to Ben Ostendorf on starting his own lab at Charité Berlin! Tavazoie Lab https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/news-update/posts/2023-02-ostendorf-lab.html Huge congratulations to Ben Ostendorf on launching his independent research group at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. During his time in the lab as a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow, Ben led foundational work on how common APOE germline variants modulate cancer outcome and infectious disease severity.

We’re delighted to see Ben taking the next step. His landmark Nature paper from his time in the lab — Common human genetic variants of APOE impact murine COVID-19 mortality — exemplifies the kind of cross-disciplinary discovery his independent program will continue to drive: human APOE genotype influences murine SARS-CoV-2 mortality, revealing APOE as a genetic link between Alzheimer’s risk and anti-viral immunity.

Read the paper

]]> alumni lab news https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/news-update/posts/2023-02-ostendorf-lab.html Wed, 15 Feb 2023 05:00:00 GMT Congratulations to Ben Ostendorf on starting his own lab at Charité Berlin! Tavazoie Lab https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/posts/2023-02-ostendorf-lab.html Huge congratulations to Ben Ostendorf on launching his independent research group at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. During his time in the lab as a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow, Ben led foundational work on how common APOE germline variants modulate cancer outcome and infectious disease severity.

We’re delighted to see Ben taking the next step. His landmark Nature paper from his time in the lab — Common human genetic variants of APOE impact murine COVID-19 mortality — exemplifies the kind of cross-disciplinary discovery his independent program will continue to drive: human APOE genotype influences murine SARS-CoV-2 mortality, revealing APOE as a genetic link between Alzheimer’s risk and anti-viral immunity.

Read the paper

]]> alumni lab news https://www.tavazoie-lab.org/posts/2023-02-ostendorf-lab.html Wed, 15 Feb 2023 05:00:00 GMT