Talia Golan, MD

About the Investigator:

Prof. Talia Golan, a physician by training, is dedicated to studying pancreatic cancer, especially in patients with inherited BRCA1/2 gene mutations. After completing her medical residency at the Sheba Cancer Institute, she continued working there as a medical oncologist. She has led the Sheba Pancreatic Cancer program and established the Sheba Pancreatic Cancer Translational Research Lab. Under her leadership, the lab has become a hub for innovative pancreatic cancer research.

About the Research:

Pancreatic cancer patients with BRCA1/2 mutations form a unique group that responds well to platinum-based chemotherapy and PARP inhibitors (or PARPi – a type of targeted therapy). However, not all patients maintain this response over time, and many develop resistance to treatment. Understanding how and why this resistance occurs is crucial for developing new treatments that can prolong patient survival and improve outcomes.

Over the past decade, Prof. Golan’s lab has focused on how BRCA1/2-associated pancreatic cancers respond to platinum agents and PARPi. Using a unique collection of patient-derived models, her team studies various pancreatic tumor subtypes by analyzing their genomes and transcriptomes. This research has revealed several mechanisms behind treatment resistance. In addition, Prof. Golan’s team is exploring new treatment options for BRCA1/2-associated pancreatic cancer. For patients who stop responding to current therapies, combining other drugs with PARPi could delay resistance. By testing new biological agents in pre-clinical settings using patient-derived models, her team aims to find combinations that can be further developed and tested in clinical trials.

Prof. Golan’s research should ultimately lead to the development of new strategies to overcome treatment resistance in pancreatic cancer, potentially leading to more effective and longer-lasting therapies for patients with BRCA1/2 mutations.