Dr.
Bennewith, Kevin
PhD (UBC)
e-mail:
Lab Website
Academic Rank:
Associate Professor
Affiliation(s):
BC Cancer Agency
Location:
BC Cancer Research Centre
Short Bio
Dr. Kevin Bennewith obtained his PhD in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UBC in 2004 under the supervision of Dr. Ralph Durand at the BC Cancer Agency. During his PhD training, he studied solid tumour physiology with particular emphasis on quantifying poorly oxygenated (hypoxic) tumour cells. He then joined the laboratory of Dr. Amato Giaccia at Stanford University as a post-doctoral scholar, where he was involved in several projects investigating the role of hypoxia-induced secreted proteins in the growth and metastasis of solid tumours. His post-doctoral work included studying the role of connective tissue growth factor in pancreatic tumour growth and using an orthotopic pancreatic tumour model to study the efficacy of chemotherapeutics designed to target hypoxic tumour cells. He also helped to discover a central role for lysyl oxidase in breast cancer metastasis through promoting the recruitment of bone marrow-derived cells to metastatic target organs. Dr. Bennewith was recruited to the BC Cancer Agency in 2008, and since that time his work has been funded by a Terry Fox Foundation New Investigator Operating Grant, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Cancer Research, the BC Cancer Foundation, and a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Career Investigator Award. Dr. Bennewith is currently a Scientist at the BC Cancer Agency and an Assistant Professor in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UBC.
Academic Backgrounds
- PhD, The University of British Columbia,Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. 2004
- BSc, The University of British Columbia, Chemistry. 1997
Awards & Recognition
Selected Publications
- Ho VW, Hamilton MJ, Dang NH, Hsu BE, Adomat HH, Guns ES, Weljie A, Samudio I, Bennewith KL and Krystal G. A low carbohydrate, high protein diet combined with celecoxib markedly reduces metastasis. Carcinogenesis 2014 Jul 14. pii: bgu147.
- Rowbotham D, Enfield KSS, Martinez VD, Thu KL, Vucic EA, Stewart GL, Bennewith KL and Lam WL. Multiple components of the VHL tumor suppressor complex are frequently affected by DNA copy number loss in pheochromocytoma. Int J Endocrinology (accepted) MA. 2014
- Halvorsen EC, Mahmoud SM and Bennewith KL. Emerging roles of regulatory T cells in tumour progression and metastasis. Cancer Metastasis Rev (accepted) SA. 2014
- Hamilton MJ, Bosiljcic M, LePard NE, Halvorsen EC, Ho VW, Banáth JP, Krystal G and Bennewith KL. Macrophages are more potent immune suppressors ex vivo than immature myeloid-derived suppressor cells induced by metastatic murine mammary carcinomas. (in press, J Immunol) (Impact Factor 5.673). 2014
- Wilson IM, Vucic EA, Enfield KSS, Thu KL, Zhang YA, Chari R, Lockwood WW, Radulovich N, Starczynowski DT, Banáth JP, Zhang M, Pusic A, Fuller M, Lonergan KM, Rowbotham D, Yee J, English JC, Buys TPH, Selamat SA, Laird-Offringa IA, Liu P, Anderson M, You M, Tsao MS, Brown CJ, Bennewith KL, MacAulay CE, Karsan A, Gazdar AF, Lam S, and Lam WL. EYA4 is inactivated biallelically at a high frequency in sporadic lung cancer and is associated with familial lung cancer risk. Oncogene. 2013 Oct 7. doi: 10
- Hamilton MJ, Banáth JP, Lam V, LePard NE, Krystal G and Bennewith KL. Serum inhibits the immunosuppressive function of myeloid-derived suppressor cells isolated from 4T1 tumor-bearing mice. Cancer Immunol Immunother, 61(5): 643-54, 2012.
- Hamilton MJ, Antignano F, von Rossum A, Boucher JL, Bennewith KL, Krystal G. TLR agonists that induce IFN-beta abrogate resident macrophage suppression of T cells. J Immunol. 2010 Oct 15;185(8):4545-53. Epub 2010 Sep 15.
- Ho AS, Huang X, Cao H, Christman-Skieller C, Bennewith K, Le QT, Koong AC. Circulating miR-210 as a Novel Hypoxia Marker in Pancreatic Cancer. Transl Oncol. 2010 Apr;3(2):109-13.
- Cairns RA, Bennewith KL, Graves EE, Giaccia AJ, Chang DT, Denko NC. Pharmacologically increased tumor hypoxia can be measured by 18F-Fluoroazomycin arabinoside positron emission tomography and enhances tumor response to hypoxic cytotoxin PR-104. Clin Cancer Res. 2009 Dec 1;15(23):7170-4. Epub 2009 Nov 17.
- Huang X, Ding L, Bennewith KL, Tong RT, Welford SM, Ang KK, Story M, Le QT, Giaccia AJ. Hypoxia-inducible mir-210 regulates normoxic gene expression involved in tumor initiation. Mol Cell. 2009 Sep 24;35(6):856-67.
Current Openings & Opportunities
Current Projects In My Lab include
Research
- Cancer research
- Solid tumour microenvironment
- Hypoxia
- Metastasis research
- Pre-metastatic niche
- Targeting hypoxic tumour cells in therapy
- Radiation biology
- 2013-present, National Mentor, The Terry Fox Foundation Strategic Initiative for Excellence in Radiation Research for the 21st Century (EIRR21) at CIHR.
- This integrated Radiation Medicine training program for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows is based out of the University of Toronto, with 32 “local” mentors from Toronto, 3 national mentors from across Canada, and 3 international mentors. I am the national mentor representing the province of British Columbia.
Cancer