Targeting lipid metabolism in prostate cancer using patient-derived tumour models

A/Prof. Lisa Butler, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), University of Adelaide

A/Prof Lisa Butler is an ARC Future Fellow at the University of Adelaide and heads the Prostate Cancer Research Group at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute. She holds a Ph.D. in cancer biology from the University of Adelaide with postdoctoral training in preclinical drug development at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York. A major focus of A/Prof Butler’s research has been the development of preclinical models that more closely represent the individual responses in men with prostate cancer which resulted in the development of a unique ex vivo prostate tumor culture model. A/Prof Butler has used this model to demonstrate the anti-proliferative efficacy of the novel heat shock protein 90 inhibitor AUY922 in prostate cancer tissues, and funding was subsequently awarded by Cancer Australia in 2013 to translate these preclinical studies into a clinical trial of AUY922 for prostate cancer. In 2014 she was awarded a Movember Revolutionary Team Award to investigate the role of lipids in prostate cancer and their potential for new biomarkers of disease aggressiveness. Her other major research interests include characterizing the role of androgen receptor and androgen receptor variants in prostate cancer and the development of combinatorial therapeutic strategies.