Research & Clinical Summary

I am a physician scientist, researcher, educator, and advocate for children. My research is focused on understanding the fundamental biology of Ewing sarcoma, an aggressive bone and soft tissue tumor that impacts all ages with peak incidence in adolescents and young adults.

I completed my MD at McMaster University and clinical training in pediatric hematology-oncology & PhD in pathology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Following post-doctoral training at University of California, San Francisco I began my career as an independent investigator at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the University of Southern California. From 2010 to 2020, I was a faculty member at University of Michigan, where my lab continued to focus its research on basic and translational studies of pediatric solid tumors. While at Michigan, I also served as director of the Cancer Biology PhD graduate and T32 training programs and as associate director of education and training at the Rogel Cancer Center.

In June 2020, I and my lab joined Seattle Children’s and the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research. I am co-center director for basic and translational science and the associate director for cancer biology. I am also a professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington, adjunct professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, and an affiliate investigator in the Clinical Research Division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

My lab has been continuously funded by grants from the NIH/NCI, AACR-Stand Up to Cancer, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the V Foundation, as well as numerous smaller funding agencies.

Interests: Ewing sarcoma

Publications

The following publications were retrieved from PubMed:

O’Keeffe D, Sheridan A, Kelly A, Doyle R, Madigan K, Lawlor E, Clarke M,
“‘Recovery’ in the Real World: Service User Experiences of Mental Health Service Use and Recommendations for Change 20 Years on from a First Episode Psychosis.”
Administration and policy in mental health 45.4 (2018 Jul): 635-648.

Gorthi A, Romero JC, Loranc E, Cao L, Lawrence LA, Goodale E, Iniguez AB, Bernard X, Masamsetti VP, Roston S, Lawlor ER, Toretsky JA, Stegmaier K, Lessnick SL, Chen Y, Bishop AJR,
“EWS-FLI1 increases transcription to cause R-loops and block BRCA1 repair in Ewing sarcoma.”
Nature 555.7696 (2018 Mar 15): 387-391.

Svoboda LK, Teh SSK, Sud S, Kerk S, Zebolsky A, Treichel S, Thomas D, Halbrook CJ, Lee HJ, Kremer D, Zhang L, Klossowski S, Bankhead AR, Magnuson B, Ljungman M, Cierpicki T, Grembecka J, Lyssiotis CA, Lawlor ER,
“Menin regulates the serine biosynthetic pathway in Ewing sarcoma.”
The Journal of pathology 245.3 (2018 Jul): 324-336.

Thomas TT, Chukkapalli S, Van Noord RA, Krook M, Hoenerhoff MJ, Dillman JR, Lawlor ER, Opipari VP, Newman EA,
“Utilization of Ultrasound Guided Tissue-directed Cellular Implantation for the Establishment of Biologically Relevant Metastatic Tumor Xenografts.”
Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE .135 (2018 May 25): .

Gorthi A, Romero JC, Loranc E, Cao L, Lawrence LA, Goodale E, Iniguez AB, Bernard X, Masamsetti VP, Roston S, Lawlor ER, Toretsky JA, Stegmaier K, Lessnick SL, Chen Y, Bishop AJR,
“Author Correction: EWS-FLI1 increases transcription to cause R-loops and block BRCA1 repair in Ewing sarcoma.”
Nature 559.7715 (2018 Jul): E11.

Pishas KI, Drenberg CD, Taslim C, Theisen ER, Johnson KM, Saund RS, Pop IL, Crompton BD, Lawlor ER, Tirode F, Mora J, Delattre O, Beckerle MC, Callen DF, Sharma S, Lessnick SL,
“Therapeutic Targeting of KDM1A/LSD1 in Ewing Sarcoma with SP-2509 Engages the Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Response.”
Molecular cancer therapeutics 17.9 (2018 Sep): 1902-1916.

Briski LM, Thomas DG, Patel RM, Lawlor ER, Chugh R, McHugh JB, Lucas DR,
“Canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling activation in soft-tissue sarcomas: A comparative study of synovial sarcoma and leiomyosarcoma.”
Rare tumors 10. (2018): 2036361318813431.

O’Keeffe D, Hannigan A, Doyle R, Kinsella A, Sheridan A, Kelly A, Madigan K, Lawlor E, Clarke M,
“The iHOPE-20 study: Relationships between and prospective predictors of remission, clinical recovery, personal recovery and resilience 20 years on from a first episode psychosis.”
The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry 53.11 (2019 Nov): 1080-1092.

Pfaltzgraff ER, Apfelbaum A, Kassa AP, Song JY, Jiang W, Suhan TK, Wellik DM, Lawlor ER,
“Anatomic Origin of Osteochondrogenic Progenitors Impacts Sensitivity to EWS-FLI1-Induced Transformation.”
Cancers 11.3 (2019 Mar 6): .

Doyle R, O’Keeffe D, Hannigan A, Kinsella A, Behan C, Kelly A, Sheridan A, Madigan K, Lawlor E, Clarke M,
“The iHOPE-20 study: mortality in first episode psychosis-a 20-year follow-up of the Dublin first episode cohort.”
Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology 54.11 (2019 Nov): 1337-1342.

Hawkins AG, Julian CM, Konzen S, Treichel S, Lawlor ER, Bailey KM,
“Microenvironmental Factors Drive Tenascin C and Src Cooperation to Promote Invadopodia Formation in Ewing Sarcoma.”
Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.) 21.10 (2019 Oct): 1063-1072.

Gallagher P, Boland C, McClenaghan A, Fanning F, Lawlor E, Clarke M,
“Improved self-esteem and activity levels following a 12-week community activity and healthy lifestyle programme in those with serious mental illness: A feasibility study.”
Early intervention in psychiatry 15.2 (2021 Apr): 367-373.

Hawkins AG, Pedersen EA, Treichel S, Temprine K, Sperring C, Read JA, Magnuson B, Chugh R, Lawlor ER,
“Wnt/β-catenin-activated Ewing sarcoma cells promote the angiogenic switch.”
JCI insight 5.13 (2020 Jul 9): .

Jiménez JA, Apfelbaum AA, Hawkins AG, Svoboda LK, Kumar A, Ruiz RO, Garcia AX, Haarer E, Nwosu ZC, Bradin J, Purohit T, Chen D, Cierpicki T, Grembecka J, Lyssiotis CA, Lawlor ER,
“EWS-FLI1 and Menin Converge to Regulate ATF4 Activity in Ewing Sarcoma.”
Molecular cancer research : MCR 19.7 (2021 Jul): 1182-1195.

O’Keeffe D, Sheridan A, Kelly A, Doyle R, Madigan K, Lawlor E, Clarke M,
“A qualitative study exploring personal recovery meaning and the potential influence of clinical recovery status on this meaning 20 years after a first-episode psychosis.”
Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology . (2021 Jun 18): .