Nita Maihle, PhD

Research Interests

• Detection, prevention, and treatment of cancer, with an emphasis of women’s cancers (breast, ovarian, endometrial, gliomas, and lung)
• Precision medicine: coupling diagnostics and biotherapeutics in human disease by targeting rational molecular pathways
• “Soluble” EGF/ErbB (sEGFR/sHER/sErbB) receptor isoforms: receptor biology; use as
  diagnostic/theranostic biomarkers; and utility as biotherapeutics in cancer and other diseases
• Function and clinical utility of EGF/HER//ErbB family receptors in female reproductive
  tissues and diseases (e.g., cancer, endometriosis, pre-eclampsia)
• Disruptive innovations in education & biomedical research: how to bring about transformational change to improve the quality of higher education and the impact of biomedical research

Research synopsis

Dr. Maihle directs a translationally-oriented research program and has been continuously funded to conduct studies on normal and malignant breast, ovarian, and endometrial, tissues. In her more than 30 years of directing labs at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester,MN), Yale University  School of Medicine, Georgia Cancer Center, and UMMC has trained more than 100  undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate trainees, clinical fellows, and junior faculty.

As dean of the U.S. Department of Defense Ovarian Cancer Academy, she works with early career investigators nationwide.

Her studies have led to pioneering discoveries in two arenas: the identification of naturally occurring soluble cytokine (sIL-6R) and growth factor receptor (sEGFR’s/sHER3’s) isoforms, and the identification and characterization of ligand-independent EGFR signal transduction pathways. Both lines of investigation added an unanticipated level of complexity to understanding of receptor biology and cell growth regulation, and have provided the foundation for diverse clinical studies on biomarkers of disease, as well as for the discovery of ‘trans-signaling’ by the sIL-6 cytokine receptor.

She is an inventor on 10 issued U.S. patents, and recently completed a sabbatical year of study working with Professor Clayton Christensen (Harvard Business School) on ‘disruptive innovation and precision medicine’ as it relates to companion diagnostics for biologically targeted cancer therapeutics, such as traztusumab (anti-HER2, cancer treatment).

For more information

• Links to PubMed articles