TWIPO #34 ~Interview With Dr. Nancy Ratner

November 14, 2013

New York, NY -- This Week in Pediatric Oncology (TWiPO), the first podcast focusing on pediatric cancer research, announced that Nancy Ratner, PhD, is a featured guest on its most recent episode, In this episode, Dr. Ratner speaks with host Dr. Tim Cripe (Nationwide Children's Hospital) and co-host Dr. Robyn Dennis (Nationwide Children's Hospital).

Dr. Ratner is interested in understanding mechanisms of peripheral nerve tumor (neurofibroma) formation in Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a common inherited disorder in which children are predisposed to cancer of the nervous system, to learning problems, bone disorders, and other cancers. She identified EGFR as a potential therapeutic target in NF1 peripheral nerve tumorigenesis, and has developed cell culture and mouse models of NF1 nerve tumorigenesis. Her laboratory has also used analysis of gene expression to identify critical genes in neurofibroma and their malignant derivatives, MPNST.

Dr. Ratner is currently a professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, University of Cincinnati, and the program leader for Cancer Biology and Neural Tumors Program in the Cancer and Blood Disorders Institute where she holds the Beatrice C. Lampkin Endowed Chair in Cancer Biology and serves as PI of the NINDS P50 “Cincinnati Center in NF Research.”