Traci Lyons, PhD

About Traci Lyons, PhD:

Traci R Lyons, PhD obtained her BA with honors in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology from CU Boulder in 1999. She then joined the laboratory of David Barton, PhD in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (now Anschutz) prior to joining the Biomedical Sciences/Molecular Biology programs for her PhD studies. Her dissertation entitled, “Novel substrates for pro-survival kinase Akt” was performed in the laboratory of Steve Anderson in the Department of Pathology. Her PhD in Biophysics and Genetics was awarded in 2006. Dr. Lyons then joined Medical Oncology for her postdoctoral studies where she is now faculty. During her postdoctoral studies aimed at understanding how clues from normal breast biology could inform studies of breast cancer her publication in Nature Medicine revealed that characteristics of the postpartum breast tissue are uniquely suited for tumor outgrowth and invasion; these results provided one of the first biologic explanations for why young, recently pregnant women with breast cancer, frequently experience poor outcomes. The Lyons lab continues to focus on mechanisms of development that are hijacked by tumor cells with a particular interest in neuroimmune- and lymphatic-associated signaling pathways. Most recently, they identified SEMA7A as a novel biomarker that can predict for recurrence in women with postpartum breast cancer and are developing a novel monoclonal antibody to directly target SEMA7A signaling.

About Pearl Scientific, LLC:

Pearl Scientific, LLC is a woman owned company that is dedicated to improving women’s health with rationally targeted therapies that are based on rigorous pre-clinical studies that are validated in patient cohorts. Our mission is to ensure that families can be together for all milestone life events through curative treatments. We have developed a novel biologic that targets the protein semaphorin 7a; this patent-pending antibody has shown efficacy in multiple preclinical models of breast cancer including complete regression in 60% of treated tumors. While our initial focus will be on breast cancer, our novel therapies have the potential to be applicable to other cancers and other chronic inflammatory diseases for which there are no cures. Our founders are Dr. Traci Lyons, PhD (CSO) and Dr. Virginia Borges, MD (CMO).