Joanna Klubo-Gwiezdzinska, MD, PhD, MHSc, is a recipient of the ASCI’s 2021 Young Physician-Scientist Award for her translational and clinical research focused on diagnosis, prognosis, and optimization of the management of thyroid cancer (TC), utilizing precision medicine. Dr. Klubo-Gwiezdzinska is a Lasker Tenure Track Investigator and Acting Chief of the Thyroid Tumors and Functional Thyroid Disorders Section in the Metabolic Disease Branch (MDB), National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health (NIDDK/NIH). She earned her MD and PhD degrees from Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland, and subsequently did a residency in Internal Medicine in Nicolaus Copernicus University Hospital as well as in Georgetown University/Washington Hospital Center, Washington DC, followed by a fellowship in endocrinology at the NIDDK/NIH, Bethesda, MD. Dr. Klubo-Gwiezdzinska also obtained a Master's Degree in Clinical Research from Duke University, Durham, NC. Her lab focuses on the cross-talk between the oncogene-driven signaling pathways and cancer metabolism. Her research team showed the growth inhibitory effects of the antidiabetic drug metformin in TC and documented a new molecular target for metformin in TC - mitochondrial glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (mGPDH). Her group showed that inhibition of mGPDH is associated with a reduction in oxidative phosphorylation leading to a change in the metabolic profile of cancer cells and energetic stress, causing decreased proliferation. Her team recently showed that BRAF-like and RAS-like TCs have distinct metabolic phenotypes that may guide an individualized therapeutic approach. Her lab also showed that somatostatin receptor type 2 (SSTR2) is overexpressed in TC, which could be targeted for imaging and treatment with radiolabeled SSTR2 analogs. In preclinical models, her team proven that the 177Lu-DOTA-EB-TATE is an agent of superior therapeutic efficacy compared with other tested SSTR2 analogs and has the potential to be translated from bench to bedside for the targeted therapy of TC patients.
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