Steffan Nawrocki, PhD

Clinical and Translational Oncology Program

Biography

Steffan Nawrocki, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and the Research Director for Translational Medical Oncology at the University of Arizona Cancer Center. He received his doctoral degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and conducted his postdoctoral fellowship in experimental cancer therapeutics at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The major focus of Dr. Nawrocki’s laboratory is the evaluation of the molecular mechanisms of action of novel experimental cancer therapeutics with an emphasis on targeting protein degradation. He has received several prestigious honors including awards from the International Myeloma Foundation, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and the Voelcker Foundation.

Cancer Focus

My laboratory focuses on the investigation of the mechanisms of action of experimental anticancer agents and approaches to enhance cancer cell death and overcome drug resistance. I have extensive expertise studying novel therapeutic agents that target protein degradation pathways including proteasome inhibitors, autophagy inhibitors, and therapies that induce endoplasmic reticular stress. My research has provided the groundwork for multiple clinical studies exploring strategies that target protein turnover for cancer therapy. My current research interests include investigation of autophagy and its regulation of drug resistance and metastatic pathogenesis. A second major focus of my laboratory is investigation of the mechanisms of action of oncolytic virus therapy.