Meet Eric Lau, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in Sanford-Burnham’s NCI-designated Cancer Center.

1.  What inspired you to pursue cancer research?

I spent a large portion of my childhood and early adulthood being raised alongside my grandmother. In 1997, my grandmother was diagnosed with advanced stage lung cancer. Over several months, I witnessed the immense suffering and downfall of this woman, who for most of my life, had represented a vibrant figure of strength and resilience. It was then that I knew that I wanted to devote my life to helping people through medical care or related research.

2.  What do you do?

I am a postdoctoral research fellow in the laboratory of Ze’ev Ronai, PhD I study the role of a protein called ATF2 in melanoma development and progression. ATF2 is a protein that can regulate a vast array of gene expression and therefore can contribute to many cellular behaviors and processes. ATF2 exhibits an intriguing duality in melanoma: it is able to both promote and to suppress melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer progression. We found that a protein called PKCɛ can determine which role ATF2 plays and are currently investigating how both proteins coordinately contribute to melanoma and skin cancer development and progression. We are also screening for chemical compounds that may promote the anti-tumor functions of ATF2.

Malignant melanoma is the most lethal skin cancer and it develops striking resistance to even the most recent treatments—thus there is an urgent need for the identification and development of alternate therapeutic approaches. The findings from our screening efforts may uncover new therapeutic modalities for melanoma and other cancers that rely on PKCɛ and ATF2.

3.  What would you do with an extra $1 million?

One of my ongoing career goals is to establish my own independent, creative research team to continue investigating the molecular mechanisms that are critical for cancer development and progression. However, the dearth of current federal funding and the difficulty to secure and maintain such funding pose the biggest hurdles for the transition of young scientists to stable, independent investigator positions. If given $1 million, I would outfit my future laboratory with cutting-edge equipment and reagents, and hire laboratory personnel—postdocs, graduate students and technicians—required to continue our research. I would ensure that this funding would help me to maintain a supportive and creative environment for both scientific learning and discovery of the fellows employed in my laboratory.