Cancer Research – Pets to People: Human Applications

March 10, 2022
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

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Program Series:
Health and WellnessScience and Society

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Join C2ST and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) for Anticancer Discovery from Pets to People (ACPP), a limited series detailing the latest in cutting-edge research conducted at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (Illinois). Learn how the analysis of cancers in pet dogs and cats can help identify promising new anticancer drugs for humans. Dr. Timothy Fan, a veterinary oncologist, and cancer researcher, will walk us through the work being done at the Comparative Oncology Research Laboratory on a subject that has far-reaching implications for the human and animal worlds.

The third program will focus on human applications. 

Companion animal models are expected to improve the predictive value of preclinical investigations. Human beings and their companion animals share similar DNA damage responses and tumor histologies. Larger animal models like cats and dogs better capture critical factors in cancer progression and permit unprecedented opportunities to confirm how drugs and therapies work against cancer cells. Companion animals with naturally occurring cancers are used to understand tumor radiobiology and treatment. They help scientists improve the predictive value of target-based radiosensitization strategies. Novel immunotherapy approaches can be studied and tested in pet dogs and cats and provide a way to show the safety and promising activity of harnessing the immune system to attack cancer cells hiding within the body.

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Event Details

Thursday, March 10th, 2022 from 5:00 – 6:00 pm CT, C2ST Facebook Live & C2ST YouTube TV.

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Featured Guests

Timothy Fan, , DVM, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM), DACVIM (oncology)

Dr. Fan received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Degree at Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine in 1995. He completed a Small Animal Rotating Internship at the University of Illinois from 1995 to 1996. Following his internship, Dr. Fan fulfilled a Small Animal Internal Medicine Residency at Cornell University in 1998. Following his stay at Cornell, Dr. Fan returned to the University of Illinois to receive advanced clinical training in the subspecialty of Medical Oncology. Dr. Fan completed his Board Certification in Internal Medicine in 2000 and Medical Oncology in 2001. After completing clinical training, Dr. Fan pursued and completed a Ph.D. in Tumor Immunology, whereby he investigated the anticancer effects of cytokine manipulation strategies for the treatment of locally-invasive and metastatic tumors in mice models of disease.

Upon completing his Ph.D. in 2007, Dr. Fan became the principal investigator of the Comparative Oncology Research Laboratory housed in the Small Animal Clinic, Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine. Dr. Fan’s laboratory works closely with other scientists for evaluating novel drugs or drug delivery strategies for the treatment of cancer. Uniquely, Dr. Fan’s training as a scientist and veterinarian has allowed him the opportunity to rapidly investigate and translate novel treatment strategies in dogs with spontaneously arising cancers and conduct meaningful comparative oncology research to aid in treating cancer in not only companion animals but also human beings.