Diana Hargreaves, assistant professor in Salk’s Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory, discussed the latest in cancer research at the Salk Women & Science event in December. In her talk, “Interior Remodeling for Cancer Defense,” Hargreaves shared how proteins called epigenetic regulators can make regions of our genome more or less accessible for activation, affecting what kinds of tissues cells become. Similar to remodeling a house, cells must rearrange their packaged DNA—with the help of these epigenetic regulators—to carry out certain functions while making others inaccessible. Hargreaves studies a particular epigenetic regulator whose subunit is mutated in many solid tumors, such as in ovarian, bladder and colorectal cancers. She aims to understand how mutations in this complex contribute to the creation of tumors and potentially find new targets for therapy.

About 100 business and community members attended the event. Salk’s Women & Science program offers three lectures a year given by the Institute’s esteemed female faculty as well as staff scientists and up-and-coming researchers. The next Salk Women & Science event will take place on Wednesday, July 20, 2016.

To learn more about the program:
Contact Betsy Collins,
director of Donor Relations
(858) 500-4883
becollins@salk.edu
www.salk.edu/womenandscience