Lara Franceschinis Tshering
lara.franceschinistsheri@stonybrook.edu
B.A., Premedicine and Chemistry 2016
Sarah Lawrence College
Tumor heterogeneity and drug resistance in prostate cancer
Lara started her academic career at Sarah Lawrence College, where she completed her undergraduate studies in pre-medicine and chemistry. Taking an interest in research, she enrolled in the Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology Master’s program at Stony Brook University, from which she graduated in December 2017. During her time as a Master’s student, Lara worked under Dr. Holly Colognato and studied the effect of exercise on de- and re-myelination in the central nervous system, piquing her interest in translational and pre-clinical biomedical research. After graduating, Lara began working under Dr. Flaminia Talos on mouse models of prostate cancer, studying tumor heterogeneity throughout the course of the disease. Lara decided to return to graduate school to earn her PhD at Stony Brook, continuing the work she has started under Dr. Talos.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men worldwide. Though prostate cancer is known to be substantially heterogeneous, there is still little understanding of the underlying dynamics and interactions between tumor subpopulations, or “clones.” Thus, intratumor heterogeneity remains a significant hurdle in treatment of prostate cancer; this is especially evident after progression to advanced stages and castration resistance, which is often considered untreatable and lethal. Understanding the fundamental differences––both phenotypic and genomic––between clones may hold the key to improving therapies, preventing disease progression, and prolonging patient survival. Using a multi-omics approach, Lara’s work explores the dynamic changes in these subpopulations during progression to drug resistant tumors, focusing on the differences between clones at the transcriptomic and genomic level. To do this, Lara works with both in vivo mouse models of prostate cancer and in vitro 3D tissue culture (“organoids”) derived from prostate tumors, as well as applying systems biology approaches.
Recent Publications: