We're delighted to announce our Plenary Speaker,

Prof. Dr. Raghu Kalluri!

Dr. Kalluri's translational research program is centered on the role of the cellular microenvironment and exosomes in health and disease and was built with intentional focus on from his basic science research. His initial work in matrix biology focused on basement membrane and matrix biology. This work led to the elucidation of mechanisms associated with tissue injury, regeneration, and fibrosis, and the discovery of new therapeutic targets to combat kidney organ fibrosis.

The cellular microenvironment plays a critical role in organ fibrosis, and his subsequent research on the cellular microenvironment in solid tumors, specifically pancreatic cancer, showed that the tumor microenvironment/reactive stroma is similarly critical in tumor progression and metastasis. This provided fresh opportunities for the identification of novel therapeutic targets to suppress cancer progression and metastasis.

His group’s next work showed that vital crosstalk between cancer cells and their microenvironment occurs through exosomes, and that cellular states are reflected in the exosome population. They further demonstrated that exosomes can be modified to deliver customized cargo to cells. This has led to an expansion in the potential clinical utility of exosomes, both in diagnostic and therapeutic settings.

Their discoveries in exosome biology have provided novel insights into their functional role in cancer progression and offered new approaches to combat previously undruggable therapy targets in pancreatic cancer. His research group has published over 350 papers in peer reviewed journals (total citations: 167,871; h-index: 154). In addition, recent work from his laboratory has inspired three successful exosome-based Phase I clinical trials for cancer.

Dr. Kalluri has co-founded six biotechnology companies, and his laboratory is a fertile training ground for the next generation of scientists and physician-scientists.