Valerie O’Brien

Title:

Assistant Professor

PhD Granting Institution:

Washington University in St. Louis

Contact:

Email Address: vpobrien@purdue.edu
Office Phone: 61971
Lab Website Link: https://www.vpobrienlab.com

Primary Training Group:

Cancer Biology

Secondary Training Groups:

Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases

Research Areas:

stomach infection, metaplasia, gastric cancer, pathogen-associated malignancy, model systems, pre-clinical research

Current Projects:

Most gastric cancers are caused by stomach infection with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori. However, we still don’t understand exactly how and why H. pylori causes cancer. We also lack gastric cancer-specific drugs and early detection biomarkers, which are urgently needed because gastric cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide. The O’Brien lab studies the mechanisms through which H. pylori infection leads to gastric cancer. The long-term goal of the lab is to develop host-targeted therapies to prevent gastric cancer development.

Importance of Interdisciplinary Research:

Interdisciplinary approaches are critical for solving this complex disease. Accordingly, research in the O’Brien lab encompasses microbiology, immunology and molecular cell biology. We challenge ourselves to “think like a microbe” in the hopes of discovering how and why H. pylori causes gastric cancer.