McAllister Laboratory
Florencia McAllister, M.D.
Principal Investigator
The McAllister Laboratory focuses on dissecting the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate the immune responses to tumor initiation and progression with the goal of designing novel effective strategies to prevent and treat cancer
During tumor initiation and development, immune cells establish a dynamic and close interaction with the neoplastic epithelium as well as with the fibrotic stroma, affecting tumor behavior. Ultimately, tumor behavior affects immune responses. Gaining further knowledge on this interaction will inform us on how to build more effective novel strategies for prevention and treatment of pancreatic cancer.
Our laboratory has taken two approaches to investigate these issues:
1. Use of genetically-engineered mouse (GEM) models that mimic the development of human pancreatic cancer to dissect the role of immune cells in the regulation of cancer development.
- Generation of GEM-immune reporter mice with the goal of performing multi-parametric cell sorting on particular types of immune cells at early and late stage of tumorigenesis for transcriptome analysis and for imaging studies aimed to determine cellular location and dynamics.
- Utilization of bone marrow transplantation to test the functionality of specific immune cells or molecules in GEM models of pancreatic cancer.
2. Molecular characterization of the immune and epithelial human cells obtained from patients with pre-neoplastic lesions and pancreatic cancer to confirm the human significance of the experimental findings and as a discovery platform.
Right now, we are...
May 2022 - Celebrating a milestone. Watch this space for updates in the future. Visit our Labgram for updates.
April 2022 - Welcoming back our lab members who attended the AACR in New Orleans.
April 2022 - Celebrating our leader, Dr.
Florencia McAllister on her election to the American Society for
Clinical Investigation.
March 2022 - Celebrating the Saumya Kasliwal and her publication in Gastroenterology.
February 2022 - Welcoming our newest lab member, Vicky Tahan, from Argentina.
January 2022 - Saying goodbye to Qianfei Zhang as he continues his career in industry.
January 2022 - Ringing in the new year! Welcome to our rotating students Chaitali and Haoyue.
September 2021 - Saying goodbye to Pinar
as she prepares for life in the industry. Good luck, Pinar!
August 2021 - Celebrating again! Our Cancer Prevention Research Training Program student, Saumya Kasliwal was the winner for the Interventional Study Poster competition during the CPRTP Trainee Exposition. Congrats, Saumya!
August 2021 - Celebrating Susana Castro! Susana has been selected as the 2021 Tzu Chi Scholar. Head over to our Labgram for more updates like this.
August 2021 - Cheering on Rian and Vidhi who were elected as President and Vice President of the GSBS Student Association for 2021-2022.
June 2021 - Taking the year into review as
we go over the research that has taken place over the last 12
months.
June 2021 - Welcoming Saumya Kasliwal to the McAllister Lab as part of the Cancer Prevention Research Training Program!
Contact Us
Florencia McAllister, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Tumor Immunology and Cancer Biology Graduate Programs
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dept. of Clinical Cancer Prevention & Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology
Basic Sciences Research Building (BSRB)
6767 Bertner Ave.
Office: S7.8116A
Lab: S7.8224
Houston, TX 77030
Email: FMcAllister@mdanderson.org
Lab Phone: 713-745-4491
Candace Gallegos
Administrative Assistant
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dept. of Clinical Cancer Prevention
Basic Sciences Research Building (BSRB)
6767 Bertner Ave.
Office: S7.8336
Houston, TX 77030
Phone: 713-745-1836
Email: cmgallegos@mdanderson.org
Fax: 713-834-6397