Engineering translational and physiologically relevant preclinical cancer models to advance women’s health research

The de la Puente Lab develops translational and physiologically relevant preclinical cancer models as tools to recapitulate tumor behavior ex vivo (“out of the living”) with an emphasis in cellular crosstalk, extracellular matrix remodeling, and spatial gradients. We focus on elucidating mechanisms driving chemoresistance and immune evasion in women’s cancer and further developing novel treatment strategies to mitigate their occurrence. Our long-term goal is to accelerate and directly translate our significant insights to aid women suffering from cancer.

Mentoring a workforce of trainees that will tackle Women’s Health through bioengineering approaches.

Lab News

Amrita Bhagia, MDPhD student, was awarded an Independent Research Award for her work on microfluidics from University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine

Dr. Pilar de la Puente has received an R37 MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health—an honor only given to researchers whose grant proposals are considered outstanding by NIH reviewers.

She was awarded $2.75 million for her project, “Elucidating spatiotemporal dynamics of nascent extracellular matrix in response to platinum treatment in ovarian cancer,” which will explore how the tumor environment changes during treatment using tissue engineering and metabolic labeling approaches.

Comic Book Cancer Wars

Dr. de la Puente is featured in the Comic Book Cancer Wars to bring contemporary role models for Hispanic women.
SCIENTIFIC MISSION:
Engineering translational and physiologically relevant preclinical cancer models to advance women’s health research.
LOCATION:
Sanford Research
2301 E 60th St N
Sioux Falls, SD 57104
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