Research Program: Tumor Biology and Progession
Assistant Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology

schwe251@umn.edu
612-626-9419 — office
612-626-5059 — lab
Preferred contact method: email

Dr. Schwertfeger received a B.S. in Biology in 1996 from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. In 2001 she received a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. She then conducted a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Jeff Rosen at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. She joined the faculty of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology in the fall of 2006.

Research Interests

The primary focus of the research in my lab is on the role of inflammation in promoting the initiating stages of breast cancer. Results from my post-doctoral studies using an in vivo mouse model of preneoplastic breast cancer formation demonstrated that macrophages are involved in mediating both epithelial proliferation and angiogenesis induced by FGFR1 activation in the mammary epithelium. The long-term goals of this project include evaluating the roles of macrophages in mediating the various aspects of breast cancer initiation and promotion, including epithelial proliferation, angiogenesis, and host responses, using mouse models of mammary tumorigenesis.

A second project in the lab focuses on FGFR1 activation and signal transduction in breast cancer. FGFR1 has been recently implicated in human breast cancer and may represent a novel therapeutic target for specific types of breast cancer. We have identified several gene targets of FGFR1 activation in mammary epithelial cells and we are currently exploring the potential contributions of these genes to FGFR1-mediated tumorigenesis using both cell lines and mouse models.

Selected Publications

Schwertfeger KL, Xian W, Cohen DA, Rosen JM. A critical role for the inflammatory response in a mouse model of preneoplastic progression. Cancer Res. 2006;66:5676-5685.

Xian W, Schwertfeger KL, Vargo-Gogola TC, Rosen JM. Pleiotropic effects of FGFR1 on cell proliferation, survival and migration in a 3D mammary epithelial cells model. J Cell Biol. 2005;171:663-673.

Schwertfeger KL, Richert MM, Anderson SM. Mammary gland involution is delayed by activated Akt in transgenic mice. Mol Endocrinol. 2001;15:867-881.