Elaine Alarid
Credentials: Oncology Department
Position title: Molecular mechanism of hormone action in cancer
Email: alarid@oncology.wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 265-9319
Address:
6151 Wi Institute Medical Research
1111 Highland Ave
Madison, WI 53705
LAB WEBSITE:
https://mcardle.wisc.edu/faculty/elaine-alarid/
FOCUS GROUPS:
Cancer Biology; Physiology; Transcriptional Mechanisms
RESEARCH DESCRIPTION:
The research goal of my lab is to advance a fundamental knowledge of mechanisms governing steroid receptor function and to better understand how deregulation of these mechanisms contributes to cancer. We focus on estrogen receptor-α (ERα), one of two receptors that mediate the actions of estrogen, and a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily of transcription factors. ERα is one of the most important biomarkers in breast cancer and is used to predict both prognosis and treatment. Agents that disrupt ERα signaling are a mainstay for breast cancer therapy for the majority of patients. Hence understanding what governs ERα expression and activity is especially important as it directly impacts tens of thousands of women who suffer from breast cancer diagnoses each year and who will be prescribed ERα-targeted therapies. Current projects in our lab seek to understand how post-translational modifications govern specificity of ERα function in breast cancer cells and how other transcription factors act in concert with ERα during breast cancer progression and metastasis.
ALSO A TRAINER IN THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMS:
Cancer Biology Graduate Program, Affiliate of Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology Program (ERP)