Kevin Tharp, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBPMDI)
Seminar Information
Altered glucose metabolism is an auspicious feature of solid tumors, but is it an intrinsic property of tumor cells or a metabolic adaptation to the tumor microenvironment? We explore the relationship between glucose metabolism and the biophysical properties of the cellular microenvironment to understand paradoxical metabolic decisions observed in cancer physiology. These studies reveal how adaptations to microenvironmental factors change the biosynthetic outputs of glucose metabolism to dysregulate critical tumor-immune interactions.
Kevin Tharp, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBPMDI) in San Diego, California. Kevin is a full member of the NCI-designated Cancer Center: Cancer Metabolism and Microenvironment program at SBPMDI. He completed his graduate studies at University of California, Berkeley with Dr. Andreas Stahl (Thesis Advisor and Primary Mentor) and Dr. Kevin Healy (Secondary Mentor), where he explored the relationship between biomaterials, stem cell differentiation, and thermogenic adipose tissues. Kevin became interested in the role of intrinsic and extrinsic biomechanical properties of cells and tissues affecting mitochondrial metabolism and joined Dr. Valerie Weaver’s Center for Bioengineering and Tissue Regeneration at University of California, San Francisco for postdoctoral studies.