Dr Ruth Scherz-Shouval
Assistant Prof. Dept of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science
Ruth Scherz-Shouval is a senior scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science since 2015. Dr. Shouval’s laboratory is dedicated to the understanding of cell-cell interactions in the tumour microenvironment. Her long-term goal is to broaden and deepen our understanding of the evolutionary conflicts between tumorigenesis and tissue homeostasis and to explore new paths of research at the interface of stress responses, cancer, and evolution. Her main interest is fibroblast biology. Fibroblasts produce cytokines, growth factors and extracellular matrix essential for normal biology. In inflammation and cancer, fibroblasts are transcriptionally rewired to secrete and produce factors that promote fibrosis and cancer. Her lab studies these pathways using mouse models of cancer, patient samples and cell co-cultures. Ruth did her BSc in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and her PhD at the Weizmann Institute of Science, in the lab of Prof. Zvulun Elazar. After a short postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Moshe Oren at WIS Ruth Joined Susan Lindquist ‘s lab at the Whitehead Institute, MIT as an HFSP and Fulbright fellow. Following her postdoc at MIT she joined the Dept. of Biomolecular Sciences at the Weizmann Institute as a senior scientist in 2015 and has been a faculty member at Weizmann since. Ruth’s grants include, among others, the ERC (European research council) starting grant and recently awarded consolidator grant, ISF (Israeli Science Foundation) research grant, and ICRF (Israel Cancer Research Fund) Gesher award. Since 2021 Ruth is a member of the Israel Young Academy.
Stress and Mutation dependencies shaping the tumour microenvironment
Tumours initiate through genomic alterations in cancer cells, and progress through reciprocal interactions with non-malignant cells in the tumour microenvironment (TME). Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are the most abundant cell type in the TME of most carcinomas. CAFs are genomically stable, and transcriptionally rewired by cancer cells to form heterogeneous subpopulations that play diverse and sometimes opposing roles in tumour progression and metastasis. It is well known that oncogenes rewire cancer cells, yet it is not known whether different mutations in the cancer cells lead to differential rewiring of CAFs and contribute to CAF heterogeneity. Moreover, the extent to which CAF rewiring is driven by genomic alterations in the cancer cells versus environmental stresses is not clear.
In my lab we address these questions by combining unbiased mapping and characterization of CAF populations in different carcinomas with a targeted analysis of specific stress responses. In my talk I will discuss recent insights we gained by characterizing the landscape of CAF heterogeneity in BRCA-WT vs BRCA-mutated cancers. I will also share insights and thoughts on CAF diversity and interactions with other cell types in the TME, in particular the immune microenvironment.