Marie Webster Email & Phone Number

Philadelphia, Pa, Us

Philadelphia, Pa, Us

Dr. Webster is interested in understanding the mechanisms underlying phenotype plasticity that contribute to therapy resistance and disease progression in melanoma. Current projects in her lab include investigating the role of Wnt signaling and slow cycling cells in melanoma progression and epigenetic changes that occur in highly metastatic cells that promote survival following multiple types of stress. Her overall goal is to develop therapeutic strategies to target highly resistant cells.

Philadelphia

Overall objective is to understand the role of slow cycling cells in phenotype plasticity of highly resistant metastatic melanoma.• Study the effects of p53 expression in slow cycling and therapy resistance.• Investigate the effects of the aging lung microenvironment on tumor cell proliferation and emergence from dormancy.

Philadelphia, Pa

• Study the link between metastatic capacity and the ability of tumor cells to become resistant to therapy.• Elucidation of the role of Wnt5A and p21 in the DNA damage response.• Investigate the effects of pseudosenescence and DNA damage on invasion and therapy resistance.

Baltimore, Md

My thesis project comprised the design and synthesis of cyclic diphosphate prodrugs and bisphosphonate prodrugs. Following successful synthesis of bisphosphonate prodrugs, I evaluated their biological activity against NSCLC. Importantly, my work demonstrated a remarkable enhancement in prodrug activity compared to the parent bisphosphonate in NSCLC. Further studies showed specificity of our clodronate prodrug against melanoma cell lines. My thesis research spanned the spectrum of chemistry to biology and involved a broad range of techniques including NMR, HPLC, mass spectroscopy, human tissue culture, IC50 determination through MTS assay, cell cycle analysis by flow cytometry, and mouse models.

Nhlbi, Bethesda, Md

I studied the effect of multiple cytokines in drug-induced hepatitis using an acetaminophen-induced liver disease model in mice. I participated in studies to determine the role of cytokines and other factors (including IL-10, IL-6, IL-4, SOCS-3, EC-SOD, HSP-40, IFN-γ, TNF-α) in susceptibility to drug-induced liver disease, using micro array, RT-PCR and immunoblotting techniques. By participating in these studies, I have gained knowledge and experience in drug-induced toxicity, tissue extraction, and signaling pathways involved in inflammation.

Biomedical Postdoctoral Program

Activities and Societies: College and University Teaching Seminar, Wistar Cancer Biology Course: Signaling Pathways in Cancer, Wistar.

Ph.D., Pharmacology And Molecular Sciences

B.A. In Chemistry, Concentration In Biochemistry And Molecular Biology, And Minor In Mathematics