Wafik S. El-Deiry: My second talk at the DAVA Oncology 3rd Global Thoracic Malignancies Summit

Wafik S. El-Deiry shared on LinkedIn:

“Gave my second talk at the DAVA Oncology 3rd Global Thoracic Malignancies Summit this morning before heading to airport to return to Rhode Island. I had 30 slides that I went through in 9 minutes.

Thanks to Dr. Christopher Azzoli for introducing me and El-Deiry Lab to Lurbinectedin. Lurbinectedin is an analogue of trabectedin isolated from the Sea Squirt.

It was fun to tell the audience about the Sea Squirt, a bottom dweller that filters the sea water for food, is eaten by many fish and is also a delicacy in some Asian countries. It is rich in alanine and glycine, has a strong sea flavor and some bitterness (I won’t be eating them any time soon). Ma-hoya has a stronger flavor, while Aka-hoya is milder.

My talk was 2 mins over probably due to the detour to discuss the Sea Squirt but I kept their attention.

I shared our preclinical data on rescue of radiation pneumonitis and dermatitis by TRAIL pathway agonists. This is an important area for the lung cancer community in addition to therapeutic development. We are looking at rescue of pneumonitis caused by radiation, ICB or combos of the two.”

Source: Wafik S. El-Deiry/LinkedIn

Wafik El-Deiry, MD, PhD, FACP, FRSM, is the Associate Dean for Oncologic Sciences at the Warren Alpert Medical School and Director of the Legorreta Cancer Center at Brown University and Director of the Joint Program in Cancer Biology at Brown University and affiliated hospitals.

Dr. El-Deiry discovered p21(WAF1) as a p53 target gene, cell cycle inhibitor, and tumor suppressor that explained the mammalian cell stress response. Dr. El-Deiry’s research is focused on mechanisms of therapy resistance with major efforts in drug discovery and development. .