Dr. Sorensen, a native of Denmark, is a board-certified molecular pathologist and Professor of Pathology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Sorensen is an internationally renowned expert in childhood cancer biology and genetics, mRNA translation, and the use of proteomic strategies to characterize cell stress pathways and surface targets that are deregulated in childhood and adult solid cancers, particularly in high-risk sarcomas. His group is particularly focused on the potential relevance of these pathways to metastatic capacity.
Dr. Sorensen’s team has discovered many novel genetic alterations in childhood cancer, including the EWS-ERG fusion in Ewing sarcoma and the ETV6-NTRK3 fusion in infantile sarcomas and secretory breast carcinoma. In fact, his discovery of ETV6-NTRK3 is the first description of NTRK fusions as recurrent drivers in human tumors, now thought to occur in >25 different human tumor types and in ~1% of human malignancies, leading to the development and world-wide approval of NTRK inhibitors for clinical use.
Current work focuses on how tumor cells adapt to diverse stresses of the tumor microenvironment, such as hypoxia and oxidative stress, and how such adaptation contributes to enhanced metastatic capacity. Moreover, his team uses a variety of proteomic approaches to identify surface targets (i.e. the surfaceome) for immunotherapy in high-risk pediatric cancers, such as the IL1RAP protein in Ewing sarcoma.
Moreover, his group was involved in the initial identification of oncofetal chondroitin sulphate modifications on proteoglycans, and continues this work in childhood sarcomas. The group has a particular interest in characterizing surface proteins that are critical for adaptation to harsh tumor microenvironmental conditions, such as increased oxidative stress, and surface candidates that impact tumor metabolism.
