The Department of Oncology Science Welcomes Dr. Nydia Tejeda-Munoz to the Faculty!

Dr. Pankaj Singh, PhD, and the Department of Oncology Science is pleased to announce that Dr. Nydia Tejeda-Munoz has joined the department as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Tejeda-Munoz received a Ph.D. In Biomedical Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 2016 with Cum Laude honors. For her postdoctoral studies, she was working with Professor Edward M. De Robertis, the Norman Sprague Professor of Biological Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. De Robertis is a world-renowned leader recognized for his discoveries in developmental biology using the Xenopus embryo as an experimental model, and is recognized for his discovery of Hox genes in vertebrates and the molecular nature of the Spemann organizer that controls the initial steps of embryonic differentiation.

Dr. Tejeda-Munoz's significant scientific contribution to date is that she discovered that the Wnt growth factor is a potent activator of macropinocytosis, also referred to as "cellular drinking" (Tejeda et al., 2019, PNAS; Albrecht*, Tejeda* et al., 2020, Cell Reports). This work helps understand how Wnt stimulates cellular growth in cancer cells. It explains earlier observations that Wnt increases the endocytosis of extracellular proteins digested in lysosomes (Albrecht et al., 2018, PNAS). Through her subsequent studies, she discovered that focal adhesion proteins are regulated by Wnt (Tejeda et al., 2022, PNAS; Tejeda et al., 2022, iScience). 

The loss of normal cell polarity and adhesion caused by Wnt signaling activation is a fundamental step for tumor progression and metastasis. The crosstalk between Wnt signaling and focal adhesions regulates adhesion, migration, and Wnt pathway component activities. Therefore, developing new strategies in Tejeda-Munoz's laboratory to restore adhesion and reduce invasive potential would be a breakthrough for cancer therapy. These original investigations on Wnt/lysosomes/macropinocytosis/focal adhesions may generate an innovative cancer progression, and treatments from unexpected directions, targeting endocytosis, macropinocytosis, lysosomes, and focal adhesions.