About the Investigator:

Born in Jerusalem, Dr. Jaber obtained her PhD in Immunology and Microbiology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.  She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Rami Aqeilan, whose laboratory team studies the molecular basis of pediatric osteosarcoma and pancreatic cancer.  Her current research entails the use of molecular and genomic tools and genetically engineered mouse models of pancreatic cancer.

About the Research:

With a 5-year survival rate below five percent and about 35,000 deaths per year, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), is one of the most lethal human cancers.  The extremely poor clinical prognosis of PDAC is attributed to its high tendency to metastasize and its resistance to conventional surgical, chemotherapeutic and radio-oncologic treatment.  Significant progress has been made in characterizing the genetic and molecular alterations which cause PDAC.  However, the molecular mechanisms which underlie early progression, invasion and metastasis in pancreatic cancer remain poorly understood.

Expression of the WWOX gene is frequently reduced or undetectable in PDAC.  Dr. Jaber will use molecular and genomic tools, as well as a genetically-engineered mouse model of PDAC to study the function of WWOX in pancreatic cancer development in order to improve early detection and targeted chemoprevention of pancreatic cancer.