THE WAKERS
The WAKers research

Cancer stem cells · Organoids · Translational models

The WAKers

American University of Beirut (AUB)

Welcome to our lab

The WAKers — Modelling cancer closer to the patient

We build patient‑centred models that connect genetics, microenvironment and drug response to accelerate translational discoveries in prostate and other solid tumours.
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Principal Investigator

Wassim Abou‑Kheir

Professor, Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology & Physiological Sciences

Professor Abou‑Kheir trained at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the NCI/NIH; he joined AUB in 2011 and leads a translational programme using organoids, genetics and patient‑derived models to study prostate and other solid tumours.
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Programmes

Four active research programmes

Histological and marker evidence of EMT and transformed regions from the PB‑Cre;Ptenfl/fl;TP53fl/fl prostate model (figure from PubMed Central).
01

Tumour microenvironment and signalling

How do microenvironmental signals and inflammatory crosstalk with epithelial genetic lesions to enable invasion, EMT and therapy resistance?

Patient‑derived prostate organoids and immunofluorescence characterisation (figure from Frontiers / PubMed Central).
02

Patient‑derived organoid models

Can patient‑derived 3D cultures reproduce clinical diversity and predict treatment response?

Functional sphere assays and progenitor expansion in Pten/TP53 null prostate (figure from Stem Cells, PubMed Central).
03

Roles of PTEN / TP53 loss in prostate cancer

What cellular programmes are unleashed by combined PTEN and TP53 loss that favour tumour initiation and castration resistance?

Drug response and lineage marker changes in patient‑derived prostate cultures (figure from Frontiers / PubMed Central).
04

Translational cancer modelling and drug repurposing

How can robust pre‑clinical models accelerate identification of existing drugs with new activity against aggressive prostate cancer?

Selected publications

Recent and defining work

2010

Characterizing the contribution of stem/progenitor cells to tumorigenesis in the Pten−/−TP53−/− prostate cancer model

Stem Cells

↗2011

Prostate epithelial Pten/TP53 loss leads to transformation of multipotential progenitors and epithelial to mesenchymal transition

Cancer Research / Nature family (PMC)

↗2020

Epidermal Growth Factor Is Essential for the Maintenance of Novel Prostate Epithelial Cells Isolated From Patient‑Derived Organoids

Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology

↗2021

Organoid culture systems for prostate epithelial tissue and prostate cancer tissue

PMC (review / methods)

↗2022

Compound genomic alterations of TP53, PTEN and RB1 tumour suppressors (selected review/conceptual work)

Frontiers in Oncology

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Join the lab

Students, interns and collaborators welcome

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