WELCOME TO THE PITARRESI LAB
We study cellular plasticity and tumor-host interactions in pancreatic cancer
The Pitarresi Lab focuses on mechanisms of cellular plasticity that drive tumorigenesis, metastasis, and cell fate decisions. We also develop mouse models to study tumor-host interactions, including cancer cachexia and immunosuppression. We leverage our expertise in mouse modeling, 3D organoid technologies, multi-omic profiling, and state-of-art screening approaches to study the functional consequences of cellular plasticity in pancreatic cancer. We actively seek to translate our basic science discoveries into new therapeutic avenues for pancreatic cancer patients.
To date, our efforts have been applied to discover new drivers of pancreatic cancer metastasis, to unveil the epigenetic landscape of acinar-to-ductal metaplasia (ADM), and to build new pancreatic cancer mouse models that more faithfully represent the human disease.
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Latest News
Jan 2025: Congrats to postdoc in the lab, Nikita Bhalerao, for being awarded a Pancreatic Cancer Alliance Postdoctoral Fellowship!!
Jan 2025: Welcome to our two new rotation students, Hau-Chian (Ethan) Chang and Janhavi Sawant. Head over to the Teams page to learn more about them!
Dec 2024: Welcome to our new undergrad, Suheera Haq from UConn. Check out the Teams page to learn a little bit more about Suheera.
Dec 2024: The Pitarresi and Ruscetti labs had a fun Christmas party. A fun way to wrap up the new year and can’t wait to see what 2025 brings us!
Dec 2024: The Pitarresi lab traveled to Hawaii for the American Pancreatic Association annual meeting where postdoc Nikita Bhalerao was awarded an oral presentation!
Nov 2024: The UMass Chan pancreatic cancer research team showing their pride on world pancreatic cancer research day!
Nov 2024: Congrats to graduate student Jessica Peura for scoring a 2% on her F31 grant application at NCI! Really proud of her for putting in the hard work and getting such an amazing score on her first submission!
Nov 2024: Jason presented at the AACR Tumor Body Interactions meeting in Boston.
Nov 2024: The Pitarresi-Ruscetti labs performed at the Pancreatic Cancer Alliance’s annual Karaoke For a Cure fundraiser! It was a fun night for all and a great way to raise money for pancreatic cancer research at UMass.
Oct 2024: Congrats to our UMass Chan colleague Victor Ambros for winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine!!!!
Oct 2024: Congrats to postdoc Nikita Bhalerao for being chosen for an oral presentation at the UMass Chan Research Day!
Oct 2024: Congrats to graduate student Jessica Peura for winning the best presentation award for her oral presentation at the UMass Chan Cancer Biology retreat.
Sept 2024: Thank you to the lab for participating and fundraising for this year’s UMass Cancer Center Walk. Over $650k raised to date, all going back to UMass Chan cancer researchers!
Sept 2024: Congrats to graduate student Jessica Peura for winning the Zelda Haidak Scholarship in Cell Biology!
August 2024: Check out our new publication in Development Cell looking at the role of Fra1 in acinar-to-ductal metasplasia (ADM) and pancreatic cancer progression.
Sept 2024: Students Calvin Johnson and Jessica Peura and postdoc Nikita Bhalerao presented their work at this year’s Pancreatic AACR in Boston. Congrats to the whole team on a job well done!
August 2024: Congrats to graduate students Calvin Johnson and Jessica Peura for being selected for the UMass Chan IMSD and Innate Immunity T32 training grants!
August 2024: Congrats to undergrad Helen Varughese for presenting her first poster from her work as a summer SURP student at the UMass. She did a great job this summer and we are incredibly proud of her!
August 2024: Congrats to postdoc Nikita Bhalerao who was awarded the 2024 Hopper-Belmont Inspiration Award for her work on pancreatic cancer cachexia!
June 2024: Congrats to graduate student Calvin Johnson who was awarded an oral presentation at the UMass Chan GI Research job for his work in PDAC immunosuppression.
May 2024: The Pitarresi lab welcomes summer undergraduate student Helen Varughese to the lab, where she will be dissecting immune cell recruitment in pancreatic cancer. Head over to the Team page to learn more about Helen and her passion for Bollywood dance!
April 2024: Congrats to postdoc Nikita Bhalerao who was awarded an oral presentation at the Cancer Metabolism Showcase. She did a fantastic job presenting her work on tumor-derived factors that mediate adipose tissue wasting in PDAC-associated cancer cachexia.
Mar 2024: Congrats to Jessica Peura on passing her Qualifying Exam! She is building and characterizing a new highly metastatic mouse model of pancreatic cancer for her thesis work!
Mar 2024: Congrats to Calvin Johnson on passing his Qualifying Exam! He is the first official PhD Candidate in the Pitarresi lab and will be tackling immunosuppression in PDAC for his thesis work!
Mar 2024: Congrats to Max Wengyn, the first Pitarresi lab tech, who just matched in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s for his residency!
Mar 2024: We welcomed a new rotation student, Kelly Ward, to the lab group. Check out her bio on the Team page to learn more about her and her love for classic rock!
Feb 2024: The Pitarresi lab was notified that their Department of Defense (DOD) grant to study pancreatic cancer cachexia will be funded!
Feb 2024: The Pitarresi lab went on a lab ski trip to a local mountain with a few other UMass Chan labs and it was a blast!
Dec 2023: The Pitarresi lab had a holiday party along with the Ruscetti and other UMass labs! We ate, drank, did a white elephant gift exchange, and played some other games. What a great time to reflect on what we have accomplished in 2023 and what will come in 2024!
Nov 2023: Jason and Marcus Ruscetti sang at the Pancreatic Cancer Alliance (PCA) Karaoke For a Cure event to raise money and awareness for pancreatic cancer research at UMass Chan!
We took home the Best Performance award for our song “Soul Man” by the Blues Brothers. It was a great event enjoyed by our labs!
Oct 2023: Jason presented our lab’s work at the UMass Chan Medical School Research Retreat. Jess and Calvin also presented and Calvin won a presentation award. Congrats to Calvin and Jess!
Oct 2023: Jason presented our lab’s work at the UMass Cancer Center Retreat, and graduate students Jess and Calvin also presented posters!
Sept 2023: Jason presented our pancreatic cancer cachexia story at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Pancreatic Cancer Conference in Boston! The whole lab attended, with Jess and Calvin presenting their work during the poster sessions!
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The Pitarresi Lab is affiliated with the Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Molecular Cell & Cancer Biology, and UMass Cancer Center at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School.
Interested in joining?
We are constantly looking for passionate and talented researchers (postdocs, graduate students, MD and MD/PhD students, undergraduates, and research technicians). Contact Dr. Pitarresi if interested.