Our research group is searching for ways to prevent metastatic breast cancer, which claims the lives of over 40,000 women and men in the United States each year. In particular, we study breast cancer as a systemic disease. We are working to understand how physiological and microenvironmental processes determine whether a breast cancer will progress and respond to treatment. We are undertaking a number of exciting projects in our laboratory:
1. Identifying the cells responsible for metastasis and therapeutic resistance. We recently developed a novel technology that allows us to trace individual cancer cells over long periods of time using experimental models of metastasis and treatment. We use this technology to distinguish dormant tumor cells from the cells that eventually form aggressively growing metastases and contribute to therapeutic resistance, which are responsible for nearly all cancer-related deaths.
2. Understanding how hematopoietic and immune cells regulate metastasis. Our early work taught us that immune cells are recruited to breast tumors and their metastases. These immune cells can govern whether a cancer will advance or be halted. Our lab was among the first to understand that the hematopoietic progenitors of these cells in the bone marrow are already primed to support metastasis even when a primary breast tumor is in early stages. By studying and understanding how these bone marrow cells are different between cancer patients and women without cancer, we may be able to modulate these immune cells, or the molecules that they secrete, as a way to target metastases.
3. Understanding systemic processes that regulate breast cancer progression and response to therapy. We are learning that various physiological processes and pharmacological treatments, such as aging, inflamation, primary breast cancers, chemotherapies, and targeted therapies, have a profound impact on tumor cells and the hematopoietic immune cells that regulate tumor growth. Our studies in this area are helping us to identify new therapies that eliminate breast cancers in our pre-clinical models.
Our ultimate goals in conducting these studies are to support development of new non-invasive tests that identify cancer patients who are likely to suffer from disease relapse and to develop new treatment therapies that can be given to those patients before their cancer returns.
We invite you to contact us if you wish to learn more about our research.
Dr. McAllister received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and completed her Ph.D. studies in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She did her postdoctoral work in Dr. Robert Weinberg’s laboratory at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research where she established new pre-clinical models to study breast cancer pathophysiology. She joined the faculty of Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in 2009, and is also an affiliate member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, an associate member of the Broad Institute, and a member of the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Dr. McAllister is an American Cancer Society Scholar, the 2013 recipient of the AACR Gertrude B. Elion Cancer Research Award, and an Era of Hope Award Scholar. In 2014, she received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Obama.
Jessica Olive, PhD (Graduate Student) – Business-CONNECT Office, Michigan State University
Jessalyn Ubellacker, PhD (Graduate Student) – Postdoctoral Fellow, UT Southwestern
Molly DeCristo, PhD (Graduate Student) – Postdoctoral Fellow, Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Ayana Henderson (Post-Baccalaureate Student) – PhD Student at Harvard Medical School
Kristin Wilson (Undergraduate Trainee) – BS Candidate, Boston University
Francis Greathouse (Undergraduate Trainee) – BS Candidate, Michigan State University
Ellen Murchie (Undergraduate Trainee) – Research Technician, Massachusetts General Hospital
Marie-Therese Haider, PhD (Visiting Scientist) – Postdoctoral Fellow, University Hamburg, Germany
Virginia Bruch (Summer Intern) – DVM Candidate, University of Georgia
Sara Morrow (Undergraduate Trainee) – Research Technician, Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Caroline Arrellano Garcia (Undergraduate Trainee) – PhD Candidate, Stanford University
Andrea Klapp (Undergraduate Trainee) – Research Technician, Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Bennett King (Undergraduate Trainee; Post-Baccalaureate Trainee) – DVM Candidate, Univ. of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine
Jaclyn Sceneay, PhD (Postdoctoral Fellow) – Scientist, Seres Therapeutics
Niko Bretz (Post-doctoral Fellow) – Medical Science Liaison Manager Immunology, Sanofi
Jaewon Lee (Visiting Scientist) – MD/PhD Candidate, Tufts University School of Medicine
Lauren Testa (Undergraduate Trainee) – MD Candidate, U. Mass Medical Center
Laura Rosenthal (Undergraduate Trainee) – ER Technical Nursing Assistant, North Shore Medical Center
Bianca Ho (Undergraduate Trainee) – MD Candidate, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Amanda Redig, PhD (Medical Internship and Fellowship) – Instructor in Medicine, Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Irene Wong (High School Intern; Undergraduate Trainee) – PhD Student at Harvard Medical School
Samantha Hay (Undergraduate Trainee) – Research Assistant, U. Mass Medical School
Donjeta Gjuka (Undergraduate Trainee) – PhD Candidate, UT Austin
Yuanbo Qin, PhD (Postdoctoral Fellow) – Scientist, EdiGene, Inc.
Laura Gabrovsek (Undergraduate Trainee) – PhD Candidate, University of Washington
Maria Apellaniz Ruiz (Undergraduate Trainee) – PhD Candidate, Spanish National Cancer Research Center
Sarah Harney (Undergraduate Trainee) – MD Candidate
Sabine Schneider (Undergraduate Trainee) – PhD Candidate
Victor Fanjul Hevia (Undergraduate Trainee) – PhD Candidate, Spanish National Cardiovascular Research Center
Timothy Marsh (Research Technician) – PhD Candidate, UCSF
Ramya Tadipatri (Research Technician) – MD Candidate, Weill Cornell Medical College
Zafira Castano, PhD (Postdoctoral Fellow; Instructor) – President, International Mentorship Foundation for the Advancement of Higher Education (IMFAHE)
Kristin Tracy, PhD (Postdoctoral Fellow) – Scientist II, BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc
Moshe Elkabets, PhD (Postdoctoral Fellow) – Assistant Professor, Ben Gurion University, Israel
Hanna Kuznetsov, PhD (Undergraduate Trainee; Research Technician) – Scientist, Genocean Biosciences
Ashley Greiner, MD, MPH (Undergraduate Trainee) – Emergency Public Health Epidemiologist, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Stephen Kelleher, MD, PhD (Undergraduate Trainee) – Anesthesia Resident, Stanford University
The McAllister Lab gratefully acknowledges the following sources of funding:
American Association for Cancer Research
American Cancer Society
Breast Cancer Alliance
Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Department of Defense
DF/HCC Breast SPORE
Harvard Stem Cell Institute
National Institutes of Health/ National Cancer Institute
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
Post-doctoral Fellows
The McAllister lab is seeking highly talented individuals to join our team. Interested applicants should send their CV to smcallister1@bwh.harvard.edu.
Graduate Students
Dr. McAllister is affiliated with Harvard Medical School’s Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS). Students interested in rotating should email smcallister1@bwh.harvard.edu.
Mailing Address:
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Institutes of Medicine 742
77 Avenue Louis Pasteur
Boston, MA 02115
Tel: 617-525-4929
Fax: 617-525-4986
Email: smcallister1
Donate to BWH and the McAllister Lab
If you would like to support the McAllister lab, please follow the above link, chose “Other”, and input “The McAllister Lab”.
