Edna Cukierman

Cukierman was born in Mexico City.^[3] She emigrated to Israel in 1986.^[3] She joined Technion – Israel Institute of Technology for her doctoral research, where she studied ARF directed GTPase.^[4][5]

After her PhD, Cukierman was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship in 1997, and joined the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.^[3] She developed a multilayered fibroblastic cell-derived extracellular matrix, which became widely used in biomaterials research.^[6][7]

Cukierman joined the Fox Chase Cancer Center in 2002.^[3] She studies pancreatic cancer, with a specific focus on the tumor microenvironment and the identification of strategies that can change the tumor microenvironment.^[8] Desmoplasia, which is the growth of connective tissue, shows similarities to wound healing pathologies (e.g. chronic inflammation).^[9][10] She believes it will be possible to stall the growth of tumors by transforming the microenvironment into one which harnesses anti-tumor functions.^[11]

In 2005, Cukierman demonstrated that desmoplastic extracellular matrices could induce a myofibroblastic phenotype on naïve fibroblastic cells.^[12] This work involved the realization of a human mimetic three-dimensional stroma system, which allowed Cukierman to understand the extracellular factors that determine the function of fibroblasts.^[12] Through multi-cellular culturing, Cukierman has shown how cancer-associated fibroblasts impart immunosuppressive influences, communicate and provide nutrition to cancer cells.^[12] She identified that cancer communication involved the TGF beta signaling pathway, extracellular matrix and integrin signalling pathway and the reorganization of cytoskeletal elements.^[13] She demonstrated that the glutamatergic presynaptic protein Netrin G1 promoted tumorgenesis by providing nutritional support and immunity to cancer-associated fibroblasts.^[14] She has shown that anti-Netrin G1 antibodies can halt tumorgenesis.^[9]

Cukierman joined the American Gastroenterological Association in 2010.^[8] At the time, this was considered novel because the association is mainly a medical association, and Cukierman is not a physician.^[8] In 2017, she established the Marvin and Concetta Greenberg Pancreatic Cancer Institute.^[15]