ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½

network of light circles and lines stretch across a dark blue background
BMB PhD Program Faculty

Ashani Weeraratna

Melanoma, aging, and microenvironments 

E.V. McCollum Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 

Bloomberg Distinguished Professor

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, School of Public Health
Oncology Department, School of Medicine

Ashani Weeraratna

Research Overview

My laboratory focuses on trying to unravel the molecular mechanisms that lead to metastatic progression and therapy resistance. We are investigating the link between changes in the tumor microenvironment and melanoma progression, and further, how these changes may affect response to therapy. More recently, we have become very interested in how the aging microenvironment guides changes leading to increased metastasis and therapy resistance, as well as cell-autonomous aspects of therapy resistance, and have demonstrated that normal age-related changes in the microenvironment can contribute to multiple aspects of melanomagenesis and therapy resistance. 

Additional Titles

Associate Director of Laboratory Research, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center 

 

 

Topic Areas

Selected Publications

  • Fane ME, Chhabra Y, Alicea GM, Maranto DA, Douglass SM, Webster MR, Rebecca VW, Marino GE, Almeida F, Ecker BL, Zabransky DJ, Hüser L, Beer T, Tang HY, Kossenkov A, Herlyn M, Speicher DW, Xu W, Xu X, Jaffee EM, Aguirre-Ghiso JA, Weeraratna AT. Nature, 2022.
  • Douglass SM, Fane ME, Sanseviero E, Ecker BL, Kugel CH 3rd, Behera R, Kumar V, Tcyganov EN, Yin X, Liu Q, Chhabra Y, Alicea GM, Kuruvilla R, Gabrilovich DI, Weeraratna AT. Cancer Research, 2021.
  • Fane ME, Ecker BL, Kaur A, Marino GE, Alicea GM, Douglass SM, Chhabra Y, Webster MR, Marshall A, Colling R, Espinosa O, Coupe N, Maroo N, Campo L, Middleton MR, Corrie P, Xu X, Karakousis GC, Weeraratna AT. Clinical Cancer Research, 2020.
  • Alicea GM, Rebecca VW, Goldman AR, Fane ME, Douglass SM, Behera R, Webster MR, Kugel CH, Ecker BL, Caino MC, Kossenkov AV, Tang HY, Frederick DT, Flaherty KT, Xu X, Liu Q, Gabrilovich DI, Herlyn M, Blair IA, Schug ZT, Speicher DW, Weeraratna AT. Cancer Discovery, 2020.
  • Fane M, Weeraratna AT. Nature Reviews Cancer, 2020.