CURRENT LAB MEMBERS
Jeffrey Lin PhD Candidate |
I study the relationship between insulin and pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer (PC) is the third leading cause of cancer deaths in Canada. Many individuals with PC also experience comorbid conditions like diabetes and insulin resistance, leading to elevated insulin levels in the body. Pancreatic tumors in those patients likely live in an environment with high concentrations of insulin because insulin is produced in the pancreas. There is growing evidence that increased insulin can make PC cells more aggressive and faster-growing. However, the precise mechanisms by which insulin affects PC are poorly understood. It is important to understand what insulin does to PC cells and whether it needs to be controlled in the patients because current clinical practice does not consider patients’ insulin levels during treatment. I hypothesize that insulin promotes PC progression by altering tumor metabolism and will test the hypothesis using a combination of cell culture, mouse models, and bioinformatics approaches. |
Ian Wood
MSc Student |
Blurb.
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