Eirini Papapetrou: Scientists should be strong advocates for research
Eirini Papapetrou, MD, PhD, an Associate Professor with the Department of Oncological Sciences at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, is relatively new to running, but she’s already gearing up to run her first 5K in August – for a good cause that’s also very familiar.
Born and raised in Greece, she attended University of Patras, where she earned her M.D. in Medicine, M.Sc. in Basic Medial Science, and Ph.D. on Molecular Genetics.
She later was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center before relocating to Seattle, WA, where she was an Assistant Processor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine as well as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Pathology before returning to New York City in April.
“I am a Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator (supported by a Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award),” she says. “This award is designed to support the most creative young scientists to pursue ideas that can potentially lead to major breakthroughs in our understanding and treatment of cancer.”
This summer, she is among the group of young Damon Runyon cancer researchers who have signed up to take part in the Sixth Annual Damon Runyon 5K at Yankee Stadium, the only charitable run/walk that uses the iconic Stadium as its course.
Why did you pursue funding from Damon Runyon?
The Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award is one of the most prestigious awards for early career investigators. It is a big honor and responsibility to continue the legacy of outstanding scientists who have been former DR innovators and who went on to make major discoveries. Also, DR further fosters the careers of its awardees and creates opportunities for networking and collaborations between them.
Tell me about your specialty, and what your research is focusing on?
My laboratory specializes in developing novel models of human disease using pluripotent stem cells. Specifically, we are generating stem cells from adult cells that can be obtained from any individual, called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), using technologies that became available just very recently.
What is unique about my research is that I am using iPSCs to develop models of cancer, particularly blood cancers. These open tremendous new possibilities for investigating these diseases and asking questions about what goes wrong with blood formation that turns it into leukemia in ways that were not possible before.
Why was this field of interest to you?
As a training physician, I was amazed by how sophisticated we are about the molecular causes of some diseases and at the same time how ignorant we are about others and cancers fell mostly in the latter category. Training as an MD/PhD I had my share of going back and forth between the bench and the bedside and realized that clinical investigators and basic scientists rarely understand each other.
Physician/scientists prefer to study their patients and tissues from patients whenever available, thinking in a more holistic way. On the other hand basic scientists use simpler systems, like immortalized cell lines or model organisms (like flies, worms, fish and mice), which can provide more defined and controlled systems but often aren’t as directly relevant to the human condition. I believe that stem cell models derived from patient cells can bridge this gap and combine the relevance of patient-derived cells with a more simple and tractable cell-based system.
What impact do you hope your research has?
I hope that stem cell research will provide important insights into the genetic and molecular events causing myelodysplasia and leukemia. These insights may ultimately help us identify key targets for drugs that can effectively treat these devastating diseases without the dramatic side effects of current treatments like chemotherapy or bone marrow transplantation.
Why are you participating in the August 3rd event?
I recently read in an article that only a few Americans can name a living scientist or an institution where research takes place. This is at a time when Federal funding for research and innovation in the United States is on decline, and science is not viewed as an appealing career choice for young people starting their undergraduate or graduate studies. So, I increasingly think that scientists have an obligation to engage in conversing with the public and to become strong advocates for research.
I am a very recent runner-in-training. As I am now spending less time in the bench and more in leadership/supervisory roles in my laboratory, and devoting a great deal of my time thinking, reading and writing about science, I hope that taking up running can make up for the lost physical activity during the work day.
What do you hope people learn about Damon Runyon?
Damon Runyon is unique in that it invests a great deal of effort in identifying the most promising young talents and in fostering their careers. People at Damon Runyon take the extra step to hold in-person interviews where past innovators identify new innovators to ensure that funding goes to the hands of the most promising people.