Dr Jennifer Bishop

Position:

• Post-doctoral fellow, Vancouver Prostate Centre, University of British Columbia

Biography:

Having extensively studied the role of the SRC family kinase, Lyn, in regulation of innate immune responses and inflammation, I have developed a keen interest in the role these regulators play in cellular function during both homeostasis and disease. How Lyn functions in hematopoietic cells has been delineated, however  its role in tumor cells is poorly defined. Because Lyn is commonly upregulated in many malignancies, including prostate cancer, and Src kinase inhibitors are used in the clinic, it is critical to uncover how Lyn regulates tumor biology. Using my knowledge of Lyn signaling in an immune context, I am interested in understanding the role for Lyn in tumors during the progression of prostate cancer, especially its role in epithelial to mesenchymal transition. This will build on other projects in our lab investigating the role of Lyn in androgen receptor activity in prostate tumor cells. In addition, as my work on inflammation has highlighted, the cytokine/growth factor milieu dictates not only epithelial and immune cell responses during disease, but also their phenotypes. I am particularly interested in how an androgen deficient microenvironment  in models of castration resistant prostate cancer affects the i) the development of anti-androgen drug resistance, ii) the secretion of cytokines from tumor and stromal cells that affect tumor EMT and the inflammatory response of tumor infiltrating immune cells, and iii) the frequency and dissemination of prostate cancer stem cells.

Best publications:

1. Brown, N.F., B.K. Coombes, J.L. Bishop, M.E. Wickham, M.J. Lowden, O. Gal-Mor, D.L. Goode, E.C. Boyle and B. B. Finlay. Salmonella phage ST64B encodes a type III secreted effector (2011). PlosOne Mar 18;6(3):e17824.
2. Bishop, J.L., L.M. Sly, G. Krystal, B.B. Finlay (2008). The inositol phosphatase SHIP controls Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium infection in vivo. Infect. Immun., 76(7):2913-22.
3. Bishop, J.L., E.C. Boyle* and B.B. Finlay (2007). Bacterial cell wall modification as a means of surviving and evading the host innate immune response. PNAS, USA, 104(3):691-2.
4. Jude, B.A., Y. Pobezinskaya, J.L. Bishop, S. Parke, R.M. Medzhitov, A.V. Chervonsky, T.V. Golovkina, (2003). Subversion of the innate immune system by a retrovirus. Nat. Immunol., 4(6):573-8.

Research keywords and interests: Mucosal Immunology, Tumor Immunology, Prostate Cancer, Cancer Stem Cells.