Paola Marcato

Education

BA/BSc, University of Alberta
PhD, University of Alberta
Postdoctoral Training, Dalhousie University

Research interests

The research projects in my laboratory have the long-term goal of developing improved therapeutic strategies for breast cancer based on a precision medicine approach. We use transcriptome and genome-wide functional assays, cell lines, patient-derived xenografts (PDXs), mouse tumor models, and analysis of published patient datasets to identify biomarkers, study breast cancer stem cells (CSCs) and understand factors important in breast cancer progression. 

Selected publications

For a complete list of Dr. Marcato's publications, click here.

1. McLean ME, MacLean M, Cahill HF, Arun RP, Walker OL, Wasson MCD, Fernando W, Venkatesh J, Marcato P (2023) The expanding role of cancer stem cell marker ALDH1A3 in cancer and beyond, Cancers 15(2): (492)
2. Dahn ML, Walsh HR, Dean CA, Giacomantonio MA, Fernando W, Murphy JP, Walker OL, Wasson MCD, Gujar S, Pinto DM, Marcato P (2022) Metabolite profiling reveals a connection between aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A3 and GABA metabolism in breast cancer metastasis. Metabolomics 18(1):9 doi: 10.1007/s11306-021-01864-6
3. Cruickshank BM*, Wasson M-CD*, Brown JM, Fernando W, Venkatesh J, Walker OL, Morales-Quintanilla F, Dahn ML, Vidovic D, Dean CA, Van Iderstine C, Bedard K, Dellaire G, Marcato P(2021) LncRNA PART1 promotes proliferation and migration, is associated with cancer stem cells, and alters the miRNA landscape in triple-negative breast cancer. Cancers 13(11):2644. doi: 10.3390/cancers13112644    *co-first
4. Sultan M, Nearing JT, Brown JM, Huynh TT, Cruickshank BM, Lamoureaux E, Vidovic D, Dahn ML, Fernando W, Giacomantonio CA, Langille MGI, Marcato P (2021). An in vivo genome-wide shRNA screen identifies BCL6 as a targetable paclitaxel resistance mediator in breast cancer. Mol Oncol. 15(8):2046-2064. doi: 10.1002/1878-0261.12964. 
   Featured cover article for August 2021 issue 
5. Venkatesh J, Wasson M-CD, Brown JM, Fernando W, Marcato P (2021) LncRNA-miRNA axes in breast cancer: novel points of interaction for strategic attack Cancer Letters. 509:81-89. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2021.04.002.
6. Vidovic D, Huynh TT, Konda P, DeanCA, Sultan M, Cruickshank B, CoyleKM, Gujar SA, MarcatoP (2020) ALDH1A3-regulated long non-coding RNA NRAD1 is a potential novel target for triple-negative breast tumors and cancer stem cells. Cell Death Diff 27(1):363-378. doi: 10.1038/s41418-019-0362-1.