Memorial Hospital Research Laboratories
The J. Joshua Smith Lab
Research
The J. Joshua Smith Laboratory focuses on making better models of rectal cancer (RC). My laboratory group developed the first patient-derived rectal cancer organoids. These rectal cancer organoids recapitulate the clinical and molecular features of patients with rectal cancer and uniquely reflect the clinical responses to therapy of the patients from which they were derived. I obtained an R37 grant from the National Institutes of Health to further develop and expand this rectal cancer model, and my work as a clinician and clinical trialist completely overlaps with my basic and translational work. Our focus is on improving response to neoadjuvant therapies for patients with rectal cancer by developing better disease models. I have a strong collaborative relationship with surgeon Julio Garcia-Aguilar, Chief of the Colorectal Service; radiation oncologist Paul Romesser; and surgeon Philip Paty, and through this unique collaborative initiative, we have been able to identify novel radiosensitizers to take forward into phase 1 clinical trials with parallel co-clinical trials in patient-derived organoids. Further, we have improved our initial in vivo endoluminal rectal cancer model by translating it to the immunocompetent setting to better understand the biology contributing to chemoresistance and radioresistance in rectal cancer.
Research Projects
Immunofluorescence of tumoroids using antibodies. Mouse colon tumoroids stained with CK14 (green), CK8/18 (red) and DAPI (blue)
Tumoroids were established from rectal cancer biopsies
The endoscopic view of the patient-derived tumoroids implanted in the NOD-SCID (NSG) mouse distal rectum.
People
J. Joshua Smith, MD, PhD, FACS
Surgical Oncologist
- The Smith Lab studies rectal cancer, and we developed the first patient-derived rectal cancer organoids. These rectal cancer organoids recapitulate the clinical and molecular features of patients with rectal cancer and uniquely reflect the clinical responses to therapy of the patients from which they were derived.
- [email protected]
- Email Address
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- Physician profile
Members
Research Scholar
Research Scholar
Senior Technician
Senior Research Scientist
Research Scholar
Lab Alumni
Postdoctoral Fellow
Non-stipend Visiting Investigator
Residency at University of Pittsburgh for Urology
Undergraduate student at Harvard University
Residency at Johns Hopkins for General Surgery
Head and Neck Residency in the Northeastern US
Lab Affiliations
Achievements
- R37 NCI MERIT Award for Early-Stage Investigators - National Cancer Institute (March 2020 to present))
- R37: Expansion of Tumoroid Models for Precise Treatment of Rectal Cancer Patient - National Cancer Institute (March 2020-present)
- Leveraging Radiation Induced Senescence (RIS) to Potentiate Anti-Tumor Immunity - Geoffrey Beene Cancer Center (2021-2022)
- Translational Platform for the Development, Characterization, and Clinical Assessment of Radiation Sensitizers in Rectal Cancer - Imaging and Radiation Sciences Program Seed Grant–MSK (2019-2021)
- 27th Franklin Martin, MD, FACS Faculty Research Fellowship - American College of Surgeons (2017-2019)
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- ASCRS Career Development Award - American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (2017-2019)
- 2016 Joel J. Roslyn Faculty Research Award - Association of Academic Surgery (February 2016)
- Michael E. Burt, MD, PhD, Award for Clinical Excellence - Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Department of Surgery (June 2015)