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I began my career by starting my PhD at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London, UK, which has since evolved into Cancer UK. I chose to study the process by which tumors spread, or metastasis, that had fascinated me as an undergraduate, and I began my research career by seeking for new genes whose expression changes as tumors become more metastatic. After my PhD, I trained as a post-doc in Toronto, Canada, on aspects of metastasis, therapies for metastatic disease, and tumor resistance to therapy. I now plan to set up a research program that is internationally recognized for pioneering new ideas, and for generating models to help translate laboratory findings into the clinic - by developing new metastatic tumor models, and by refining those I have already established. I have developed the first model of spontaneously metastatic Her-2 positive breast cancer that can be monitored as mice bearing the disease are treated with clinically relevant anti-Her-2 strategies (Francia et al MCT 2008, and CCR 2009). The impact of this work has subsequently led to three editorials (Francia et al Cancer Cell 2009, Nat Rev Cancer 2011, and Francia and Kerbel Nat. Biotech 2010) where I put forward the hypothesis that testing laboratory models of metastatic disease is essential to identify mechanisms by which tumors respond to current therapies in the clinic, and by which they develop resistance to current treatments. I now want to test my hypothesis by developing two new models of human breast cancer that endogenously over-express Her-2.
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