Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
Stem Cell Pathways: Aging and Cancer Evolution
The ability of cancer stem cells to initiate tumor formation has been linked to stress and other bodily processes which can occur in low earth orbit. In five NASA missions to the International Space Station, this phenomenon was studied in human cancer cell lines. These studies shed light on how low earth orbit affects mechanisms in human cells that enhance or prevent tumor progression. Thus, low earth orbit exposure represents an opportunity to develop cancer stem cell therapeutics and spaceflight cancer countermeasures.
Speaker Bio
Catriona Jamieson is a professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Regenerative Medicine at UC San Diego.
She is director of the Sanford Stem Cell Institute where she has an endowed chair. She studies processes that can lead to cancer and examines links between aging and stressors that can promote pre-cancer and malignant transformation. She earned her PhD and MD at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.