Valerie M. Weaver, PhD
Professor & Director, Center for Bioengineering and Tissue Regeneration & Co-Director Bay Area Center for Physical Sciences and Oncology
Cancer Center Program Memberships
Cancer ImmunologyEducation
University of Waterloo, Canada, B.Sc., 1985, Chemistry/Biochemistry
University of Ottawa, Canada, B.Sc. Honors, 1986, Biochemistry (Summa Cum Laude)
University of Ottawa, Canada, Ph.D., 1992, Biochemistry
Apoptosis Research Group, NRC, Ottawa, Canada, 1992-1994, Postdoctoral Fellow
Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 1994-1998, Postdoctoral Fellow
Honors & Awards
- 1986
University of Ottawa Gold Medal Highest Academic Standing Science - 1986
Society of Chemical Industry Prize - 1986
Alumni & Faculty Plaque Biochemistry - 1987
Mary Eccelstone Research Award Wyeth Canadian Society of Nutrition Sciences - 1988
American Institute of Nutrition Research Award Proctor & Gamble Graduate student award - 1996
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Achievement Award - 2000-01
ACS-New Investigator Pilot Project Award, UPenn Cancer Center Grant - 2001-05
DOD Career Development Award - 2002
International Society of Differentiation Young Investigator Travel Award - 2003
ASCB Co-Chair Mini Symposium ECM & Cancer - 2004
AACR Co-Chair Major Symposium Reversibility of Tumors - 2004
Co-Organizer HOX and Mammary Gland Workshop - 2004-10
DOD Scholar Award - 2005
Chair Engineering Cell Biology Symposium Model Systems for Complex Behaviors - 2006
Co-Chair AACR Educational Session Organotypic Cancer Models - 2007
Co-organizer, Conference on Engineering and Cell Biology - 2007
Co-organizer TUMIC conference - 2007
Chair and speaker AACR Cancer Therapy Symposium on Tumor Microenvironment - 2008
Plenary Speaker Huntsman Cancer Retreat - 2009
Co-Organizer Institute for Regenerative Medicine Retreat - 2010
Speaker at The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Tumor Microenvironment Network (TMEN) (2010), Speaker at Joint Metastasis Research Society - AACR Conference - 2010
ASCB Co-Chair Mini Symp 50th Anniversary Meeting
Selected Publications
- Hayward MK, Louise Jones J, Hall A, King L, Ironside AJ, Nelson AC, Shelley Hwang E, Weaver VM. Derivation of a nuclear heterogeneity image index to grade DCIS. Comput Struct Biotechnol J. 2020; 18:4063-4070.
View on PubMed - Barkovskaya A, Buffone A, Žídek M, Weaver VM. Proteoglycans as Mediators of Cancer Tissue Mechanics. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2020; 8:569377.
View on PubMed - Maller O, Drain AP, Barrett AS, Borgquist S, Ruffell B, Zakharevich I, Pham TT, Gruosso T, Kuasne H, Lakins JN, Acerbi I, Barnes JM, Nemkov T, Chauhan A, Gruenberg J, Nasir A, Bjarnadottir O, Werb Z, Kabos P, Chen YY, Hwang ES, Park M, Coussens LM, Nelson AC, Hansen KC, Weaver VM. Tumour-associated macrophages drive stromal cell-dependent collagen crosslinking and stiffening to promote breast cancer aggression. Nat Mater. 2020 Nov 30.
View on PubMed - Muncie JM, Ayad NME, Lakins JN, Xue X, Fu J, Weaver VM. Mechanical Tension Promotes Formation of Gastrulation-like Nodes and Patterns Mesoderm Specification in Human Embryonic Stem Cells. Dev Cell. 2020 Nov 10.
View on PubMed - Northey JJ, Barrett AS, Acerbi I, Hayward MK, Talamantes S, Dean IS, Mouw JK, Ponik SM, Lakins JN, Huang PJ, Wu J, Shi Q, Samson S, Keely PJ, Mukhtar RA, Liphardt JT, Shepherd JA, Hwang ES, Chen YY, Hansen KC, Littlepage LE, Weaver VM. Stiff stroma increases breast cancer risk by inducing the oncogene ZNF217. J Clin Invest. 2020 Nov 02; 130(11):5721-5737.
View on PubMed - Weaver VM, Bissell MJ. Zena Werb (1945-2020): Mourning the loss of a tissue microenvironment icon. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Oct 29.
View on PubMed - Barcellos-Hoff MH, Weaver VM. In Memoriam - Zena Werb 1945-2020. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 2020 Sep; 25(3):179-180.
View on PubMed - Jiang H, Torphy RJ, Steiger K, Hongo H, Ritchie AJ, Kriegsmann M, Horst D, Umetsu SE, Joseph NM, McGregor K, Pishvaian MJ, Blais EM, Lu B, Li M, Hollingsworth M, Stashko C, Volmar K, Yeh JJ, Weaver VM, Wang ZJ, Tempero MA, Weichert W, Collisson EA. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma progression is restrained by stromal matrix. J Clin Invest. 2020 Sep 01; 130(9):4704-4709.
View on PubMed - Alsamman S, Christenson SA, Yu A, Ayad NME, Mooring MS, Segal JM, Hu JK, Schaub JR, Ho SS, Rao V, Marlow MM, Turner SM, Sedki M, Pantano L, Ghoshal S, Ferreira DDS, Ma HY, Duwaerts CC, Espanol-Suner R, Wei L, Newcomb B, Mileva I, Canals D, Hannun YA, Chung RT, Mattis AN, Fuchs BC, Tager AM, Yimlamai D, Weaver VM, Mullen AC, Sheppard D, Chen JY. Targeting acid ceramidase inhibits YAP/TAZ signaling to reduce fibrosis in mice. Sci Transl Med. 2020 Aug 19; 12(557).
View on PubMed - Piersma B, Hayward MK, Weaver VM. Fibrosis and cancer: A strained relationship. Biochim Biophys Acta Rev Cancer. 2020 04; 1873(2):188356.
View on PubMed - Ayad NME, Weaver VM. Tension in tumour cells keeps metabolism high. Nature. 2020 02; 578(7796):517-518.
View on PubMed - Sahai E, Astsaturov I, Cukierman E, DeNardo DG, Egeblad M, Evans RM, Fearon D, Greten FR, Hingorani SR, Hunter T, Hynes RO, Jain RK, Janowitz T, Jorgensen C, Kimmelman AC, Kolonin MG, Maki RG, Powers RS, Puré E, Ramirez DC, Scherz-Shouval R, Sherman MH, Stewart S, Tlsty TD, Tuveson DA, Watt FM, Weaver V, Weeraratna AT, Werb Z. A framework for advancing our understanding of cancer-associated fibroblasts. Nat Rev Cancer. 2020 03; 20(3):174-186.
View on PubMed - Buffone A, Weaver VM. Don't sugarcoat it: How glycocalyx composition influences cancer progression. J Cell Biol. 2020 01 06; 219(1).
View on PubMed - Muncie JM, Falcón-Banchs R, Lakins JN, Sohn LL, Weaver VM. Patterning the Geometry of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Colonies on Compliant Substrates to Control Tissue-Level Mechanics. J Vis Exp. 2019 09 28; (151).
View on PubMed - Zheng Y, Xue X, Shao Y, Wang S, Esfahani SN, Li Z, Muncie JM, Lakins JN, Weaver VM, Gumucio DL, Fu J. Controlled modelling of human epiblast and amnion development using stem cells. Nature. 2019 09; 573(7774):421-425.
View on PubMed - Eliazer S, Muncie JM, Christensen J, Sun X, D'Urso RS, Weaver VM, Brack AS. Wnt4 from the Niche Controls the Mechano-Properties and Quiescent State of Muscle Stem Cells. Cell Stem Cell. 2019 11 07; 25(5):654-665.e4.
View on PubMed - Ayad NME, Kaushik S, Weaver VM. Tissue mechanics, an important regulator of development and disease. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2019 08 19; 374(1779):20180215.
View on PubMed - Kai F, Drain AP, Weaver VM. The Extracellular Matrix Modulates the Metastatic Journey. Dev Cell. 2019 05 06; 49(3):332-346.
View on PubMed - Libby AR, Joy DA, So PL, Mandegar MA, Muncie JM, Mendoza-Camacho FN, Weaver VM, Conklin BR, McDevitt TC. Spatiotemporal mosaic self-patterning of pluripotent stem cells using CRISPR interference. Elife. 2018 10 09; 7.
View on PubMed - Barnes JM, Kaushik S, Bainer RO, Sa JK, Woods EC, Kai F, Przybyla L, Lee M, Lee HW, Tung JC, Maller O, Barrett AS, Lu KV, Lakins JN, Hansen KC, Obernier K, Alvarez-Buylla A, Bergers G, Phillips JJ, Nam DH, Bertozzi CR, Weaver VM. A tension-mediated glycocalyx-integrin feedback loop promotes mesenchymal-like glioblastoma. Nat Cell Biol. 2018 10; 20(10):1203-1214.
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