Dr. Karuna Ganesh is Investigating and Targeting Mechanisms of Cancer Metastasis
Dr. Karuna Ganesh is a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center who investigates the molecular mechanisms of metastasis.
When she was young, Dr. Ganesh became interested in biomedical research when reading a medical thriller novel. In it, a physician-scientist used genomic sequencing to uncover the culprit of a criminal plot. She said, “I was excited by this, knowing someone could conduct science and, at the same time, actively use that knowledge to do something good for humanity.”
Later in her career as a physician working with cancer patients, she saw that metastasis (which is the spread of cancer throughout the body) was the leading cause of death in the clinic. In her words, “It felt as though there was an opportunity to understand how metastasis works and make a difference.”
Dr. Ganesh’s research has identified a link between cancer metastasis and wound healing in colorectal cancer. “Cancer is a disease of evolution. In response to stressors during metastasis, cancer cells change,” she stated. By corrupting normal mechanisms of tissue regeneration, metastatic cells are able to survive, grow, and spread beyond their site-of-origin.
To study the complex processes of metastasis, her lab develops patient-derived organoids, which are miniature 3D tumor models. She explained, “These cultures retain the heterogeneity of tumors and the differences between individual patients.” While each patient is different, studying organoids from numerous individuals makes it possible to identify the shared biological mechanisms and traits between disparate cancer types, a key component of developing viable cancer therapeutics.
Along with her scientific research, Dr. Ganesh remarked that one of the greatest challenges and joys since becoming a Principal Investigator has been meeting the needs of trainees. She believes researchers need to understand where trainees are in-terms of experience and adapt their mentoring to facilitate growth and learning. According to her, “Everybody deserves to be challenged, to learn to do science rigorously and ethically, and to have the tools to grow into the best version of themselves.”
Dr. Ganesh ultimately aims to improve treatments for patients with metastatic disease through her cancer biology research. From her perspective, “Knowing the genetic and epigenetic requirements for the cell to enter metastatic states will give us the opportunity to impede their reprogramming from a therapeutic standpoint."