Toretsky Lab
Our laboratory links together basic biophysical phenomena to create new drugs for pediatric cancer. It's a creative, multidisciplinary challenge
-Jeffrey Toretsky, MD
AUGUST, 2019
Dr. Toretsky was invited to give a keynote talk at the Children's Cancer Therapy Development Institute in Portland Oregon on August 12, 2019 at their annual Nanocourse. His talk was titled "From Idea on a Napkin to Clinical Trial: Creating a Drug for a Rare Cancer".
MAY, 2019
Dr. Toretsky was an invited participant and speaker at the NCI-sponsored workshop, "Liquid Phase Condensation as a Cellular Regulatory Mechanism: A State of the Science and Implications for Cancer Research" that took place May 14-15, 2019. His talk was titled "EWS-FLI1, RHA Helicase A, Splicing regulators and Phase Separation: What’s in the droplet and how might it function?" For more information on Protein Phase Separation check out this review in Cell
AUGUST, 2018
Dr. Kalliopi Tsafou, a post-doc in our laboratory, penned a brilliant review that discusses the possibilities of targeted transcription factors. Transcription factors have been called undruggable, but we did not believe it. Read our review in the Journal of Molecular Biology
APRIL 23, 2017
Dr. Toretsky presented a talk titled “Targeting EWS-FLI1 in Ewing Sarcoma” at the annual American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in Chicago, IL
FEB 24-26, 2017
The first Phase Separation and RNA Processing as Drivers of Cancer and Neurodegenerative Disease Conference took place in La Jolla, CA led by co-organizers Jeff Toretsky and Aaron Hosking. An NIH R13, Burroughs-Wellcome Grant, and corporate support provided funding for the meeting.
FEB 6, 2017
A great article from STAT about Dr. Toretsky’s “Odyssey” to commercialize the molecule that he and the lab discovered for Ewing Sarcoma. Enjoy the full article here.
AUGUST 31, 2016
Congratulations to Dr. Saravana Selvanathan, PhD., for receiving a travel award to attend the 2016 Bermuda Principals Impact on Splicing Conference! The conference will take place November 8-10, 2016 on the exotic island of Bermuda! Congratulations Saravana!!
May 16, 2016
Dr. Toretsky will present a talk “Small Molecule Targeting of the Intrinsically Disordered Oncoprotein EWS-FLI1” at the Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Gordon Research Conference. The conference will be held in Les Diableretes, Switzerland, June 26 – July 1, 2016.
OCT 26, 2015
The 2015 Winner of the NFL Players Association Georgetown Lombardi Award, Devon Still, Visits our lab and meets Dr. Toretsky.
SEPT 16, 2015
Congratulations to Dr. Toretsky, who was honored by Hyundai Hope on Wheels at an outdoor ceremony at Georgetown Lombardi.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2016
Saygideger-Kont Y, Minas TZ, Jones H, Hour S, Celik H, Temel I, Han J, Atabey N, Erkizan HV, Toretsky JA, Üren A. Ezrin Enhances EGFR Signaling and Modulates Erlotinib Sensitivity in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells. Neoplasia. 2016 Feb;18(2):111-20. doi: 10.1016/j.neo.2016.01.002. PubMed PMID: 26936397.
2015
Minas TZ, Han J, Javaheri T, Hong SH, Schlederer M, Saygide?er-Kont Y, Celik H, Mueller KM, Temel I, Özdemirli M, Kovar H, Erkizan HV, Toretsky J, Kenner L, Moriggl R, Üren A. YK-4-279 effectively antagonizes EWS-FLI1 induced leukemia in a transgenic mouse model. Oncotarget. 2015 Nov 10;6(35):37678-94. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.5520. PubMed PMID: 26462019; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4741957.
Zöllner SK, Rössig C, Toretsky JA. Synovial sarcoma is a gateway to the role of chromatin remodeling in cancer. Cancer Metastasis Rev. 2015 Sep;34(3):417-28. doi: 10.1007/s10555-015-9575-z. PubMed PMID: 26277104.
Selvanathan SP, Graham GT, Erkizan HV, Dirksen U, Natarajan TG, Dakic A, Yu S, Liu X, Paulsen MT, Ljungman ME, Wu CH, Lawlor ER, Üren A, Toretsky JA. Oncogenic fusion protein EWS-FLI1 is a network hub that regulates alternative splicing. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Mar 17;112(11):E1307-16. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1500536112. Epub 2015 Mar 3. PubMed PMID: 25737553; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4371969.
Erkizan HV, Schneider JA, Sajwan K, Graham GT, Griffin B, Chasovskikh S, Youbi SE, Kallarakal A, Chruszcz M, Padmanabhan R, Casey JL, Üren A, Toretsky JA. RNA helicase A activity is inhibited by oncogenic transcription factor EWS-FLI1.Nucleic Acids Res. 2015 Jan;43(2):1069-80. doi: 10.1093/nar/gku1328. Epub 2015 Jan 6. PubMed PMID: 25564528; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4333382.
Celik H, Sajwan KP, Selvanathan SP, Marsh BJ, Pai AV, Kont YS, Han J, Minas TZ, Rahim S, Erkizan HV, Toretsky JA, Üren A. Ezrin Binds to DEAD-Box RNA Helicase DDX3 and Regulates Its Function and Protein Level. Mol Cell Biol. 2015 Sep;35(18):3145-62. doi: 10.1128/MCB.00332-15. Epub 2015 Jul 6. PubMed PMID: 26149384; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4539380.
2014
Toretsky JA, Wright PE. Assemblages: functional units formed by cellular phase separation. J Cell Biol. 2014 Sep 1;206(5):579-88. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201404124. Review. PubMed PMID: 25179628; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4151146.
Shah N, Wang J, Selich-Anderson J, Graham G, Siddiqui H, Li X, Khan J, Toretsky J. PBX1 is a favorable prognostic biomarker as it modulates 13-cis retinoic acid-mediated differentiation in neuroblastoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2014 Aug 15;20(16):4400-12. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-13-1486. Epub 2014 Jun 19. PubMed PMID: 24947929; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4134768.
THANK YOU
The Toretsky Laboratory is grateful to many philanthropies for support over the years. Our success has been built on your trust along with your ability to share our vision of using multidisciplinary research to better target cancer.
Ongoing supporters include:
Children’s Cancer Foundation (Baltimore MD)
Alan B. Slifka Foundation
Hyundai Hope on Wheels
St. Baldrick's Foundation
Friend’s of Colin
Previous supporters have included:
Burroughs Wellcome Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research
Go 4 the Goal
Dani’s Foundation
Rutledge Foundation
CureSearch AFLAC
Make Some Noise Foundation
Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative
Amschwand Sarcoma Foundation
Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation
Your tax dollars supported us through these NIH grants:
RC4CA156509
R01CA133662
R01CA138212
R01CA88004
R41CA102841
R01CA78843
RR022388
DATA & SOFTWARE
SEPT 7, 2017