Prof. Talia Golan is a clinician-scientist dedicated to advancing pancreatic cancer research, seeking to understand the cancer’s biology, with especial relevance to BRCA-associated tumors. Her career goals include expertise in clinical medicine, translational laboratory research, and drug development.
Prof. Golan is the Medical Director of the Phase I Unit and Sheba Pancreatic Cancer Program. Based on her recent Phase III trial outcomes, where Prof. Golan served as a global PI, Olaparib was approved by the FDA to become standard of care for maintenance treatment of metastatic germline BRCA PDAC patients.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal malignancies with limited treatment options. PDAC harboring germline BRCA1/2 mutations (~15% of Ashkenazi Jewish PDAC patients) are the most well defined DNA damage repair (DDR) deficient subgroup and are susceptible to DNA-damaging agents and PARP inhibition.
The focus of the lab is translational research of metastatic BRCA-associated pancreatic cancer. The lab developed a unique PDAC patient-derived xenograft (PDXs) models. Most models have undergone whole genome sequencing (WGS) and RNAseq analysis in order to fully characterize mutational background and expression of the tumors.
The models closely mimic the patients’ clinical scenario and represent the most significant international source of metastatic PDAC models available worldwide.
The lab investigates PDAC's spectrum of response to DNA-damaging agents and PARP inhibition, studies the mechanisms of innate and acquired resistance and works on the development of next generation treatment approaches using the PDX models.
Prof. Golan teaches and mentors junior faculty and medical oncology fellows.
Research Interests:
Spectrum of response and resistance of BRCA-associated PDAC Mechanisms contributing to PDAC resistance to targeted treatments
Drug development:
Pancreatic cancer and the tumor microenvironment:
Pancreatic cancer and microbiome
Development of early detection methods
Affiliations:
The oncology Institute, Sheba Medical Center, Israel
Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Publications:
Here is a link to the list of publications of Prof. Talia Golan
