Therese Sørlie is Head of Department of Cancer Genetics, Institute for Cancer Research at Oslo University Hospital and she is Associate Professor in Cancer Genetics at Oslo University. She received a young investigator grant from the Norwegian Research Council and has led her own research group since 2012. She is a member of the European Network for Breast Development and Cancer. Therese Sørlie’s work includes contribution to the pioneering gene expression studies of breast tumors that has resulted in a classification scheme that is implemented in international guidelines for treatment of breast cancer. Her research interest is on breast tumor initiation and progression; from cells of origin, the specific pathways and processes that are deregulated in the further progression of the intrinsic subtypes, to the specific events that are essential for the transition from in situ to invasive cancer.Rob Clarke is a Professor of Breast Biology at the University of Manchester and is currently Director of the Manchester Breast Centre, which comprises 40 academics active in breast research. Rob was awarded a Cancer Research Campaign Fellowship which established the Breast Biology Group that he has led for over 20 years. He is a co-founder of the European Network for Breast Development and Cancer and the EuroPDX Consortium. Rob’s research achievements include the first use of Ki67 as a proliferation biomarker in neoadjuvant tamoxifen and fulvestrant studies, the discovery of the importance of paracrine signaling in normal breast epithelium including EGF and Notch pathways and establishing the roles of stem cell signaling pathways including cytokines in breast cancer therapy resistance and metastasis. Rob has over 170 peer-reviewed publications in these areas of research.
