Rachel Offenbacher, MD

About the Investigator

Rachel Offenbacher is a Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist at Sheba Medical Center. She received her Medical Degree from SUNY Downstate after completing the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education (a 7-year BS/MD program at CUNY). She completed her residency and fellowship at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she trained under the mentorship of David Loeb, MD, PhD, an expert in translational sarcoma research. Her research focuses on defining the metabolic pathways that drive pediatric sarcoma progression and applying these insights to develop precision therapies to improve patient outcomes. She was recruited to establish the Sarcoma Translational Lab at SMC.

About the Research

Osteosarcoma is the most common malignant bone cancer in adolescents and young adults, and while treatment of localized tumors has improved, survival for patients with metastatic disease remains poor, around 25%. The spread of osteosarcoma to the lungs is the main cause of death, highlighting a critical need for therapies that prevent or slow metastasis. Emerging research shows that metastatic osteosarcoma cells rewire their metabolism to survive, grow, and colonize distant organs. Our research focuses on DFMO, a drug that blocks polyamine production and triggers compensatory changes in the urea cycle. Utilizing our novel preclinical mouse model of osteosarcoma, DFMO reduced tumor recurrence and limited metastasis, suggesting it targets metabolic pathways essential for cancer spread. We aim to define how DFMO alters osteosarcoma metabolism and identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited to prevent metastasis. By linking metabolic changes to clinical outcomes, we aim to identify biomarkers of high-risk disease and uncover pathways that drive metastasis and relapse. Ultimately, this work seeks to understand the metabolic mechanisms that allow osteosarcoma to spread and to identify new strategies to block metastasis.