Emil Lou Lab

Welcome to the Emil Lou Lab at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Our main research interest involves investigating tumor heterogeneity and intercellular communication in a spectrum of invasive and aggressive solid tumor malignancies. Projects in our lab focus on investigating the biology of cancer cells as they relate to cancer cell invasion, progression, tumor recurrence, and chemotherapy resistance. We invite you to learn more about our work and our research team.

Research Philosophy

I am a physician-scientist with a strong interest and a translational approach to investigation of solid tumor malignancies at the cellular and molecular level. As a fellowship-trained and board-certified medical oncologist and neuro-oncologist, I have a strong interest in a ‘bedside-to-bench-and-back’ approach to translational oncology and laboratory research. At the national level, I have served on the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Scientific Committee for GI Cancers (2012-15), and more recently on the ASCO Scientific Committee for Developmental Therapeutics Tumor Biology Track (2022-25; Track Leader 2023-24). I also serve on the Education Committee for the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS)(Co-Chair 2023-24, Chair 2024-25), and as Deputy Editor of the Cell Press journal Molecular Therapy-Oncolytics. From 2019-2023, I served as Medical Director of the University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center's Clinical Trials Office-Solid Tumor Unit. 
Over the past several decade, my lab has been funded by the American Cancer Society, the American Association for Cancer Research, the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance, the Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund, and many generous donors who have strongly supported my team's research mission. Identifying pertinent clinical problems in oncology that can be investigated in the laboratory setting is a high priority for my basic scientific and translational research program.
 

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Projects

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Intercellular Communication in Cancer

The Lou lab primarily focuses its work on studying intercellular communication via cellular extensions called tunneling nanotubes (TnTs, or TNTs, for short). These structures are long, thin, spontaneously forming actin-based cellular extensions that occur in a variety of cell types including inflammatory cells (e.g. B cells, macrophages), neurons, and more recently being examined in malignant cells. When examined in vitro, TnTs are differentiated from other actin-based structures such as filopodia, invadopodia, and lamellopodia by their characteristic non-adherence to the substratum. Furthermore, once they attach to nearby or distant cells in culture, they form direct connections that serve as conduits for intercellular transport of a variety of cellular cargo and contents, including but not limited to lipophilic vesicles, Golgi vesicles, and even mitochondria. To date, there have been relatively few studies of TnTs in cancer, particularly in primary cancer cells or tumors. Much remains unknown about these structures, including their in vivo relevance. Our team was the first to demonstrate, using confocal microscopy, presence of nanotubes in intact malignant tumors. For confocal and other microscopy videos of this work, click here.

Ongoing projects on TnTs in our lab include the following:

  • Investigation of the underlying function of TnTs and relevance to invasive cancers. We are actively investigating whether TnTs serve as a selective and unique conduit for cellular cargo that drive vital cellular processes, including carcinogenesis and metastasis.
  • Investigation of the mechanisms of TnT formation and maintenance in cancer.
  • Identifying differences in TnT formation in malignant vs. precursor or stromal cells, and identification of cellular biomarkers that contribute to selectivity of TnT formation.

Additional Work

  • Tumor exosomes induce tunneling nanotubes in lipid raft-enriched regions of human mesothelioma cells (Publication Link)
  • Tumor-stromal cross talk: direct cell-to-cell transfer of oncogenic microRNAs via tunneling nanotubes (Publication Link)
  • A new paradigm for studying intercellular communication and therapeutics in cancer (Publication Link)

Translational Research Program

Novel biomarkers of chemoresistance in ovarian cancer:

An additional project in our lab involves a biomarker-based clinical trial in collaboration with the UMN Gynecologic Oncology group, with the purpose of identifying novel biomarkers of chemoresistant ovarian cancers. We enrolled patients and collected tumor specimens at the time of debulking surgery, as well as serum samples at the time of diagnosis and longitudinally throughout their care, with the purpose of correlating potential biomarkers that may predict which patients harbor tumors most susceptible to developing resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy, a major obstacle to treatment of these patients. We isolated circulating tumor cells (CTCs) to and correlated these findings to platinum-resistance as well. Results to date have been published in peer-reviewed journals, including in JAMA Oncology in 2019, when we reported a correlation between Tumor-Stroma Proportion and Platinum Chemotherapy Resistance in Ovarian Cancer. This work was sponsored by the KL2 Scholars Career Development Program, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Minnesota.

 

Lab Initiatives

AACR Scientist <--> Survivor Program

  • Dr. Lou has served as a Scientist Mentor for this Program at the AACR (American Association for Cancer Research)
    Annual Meetings in 2013-2022.
  • Click here to read an interview with Dr. Lou and Cancer Today's full coverage of the Scientist-Survivor Program at the annual meeting.
  • Invited guest on Breast Cancer Social Media (#bcsm) blog for updates from #AACR15

Community Outreach and Presentations

  • Presentation on “Recent Advances in Cancer Research” at the Roseville Rotary Club’s Rotary Health Day. April 21, 2014.

Community Service

  • Grant reviewer for community group applications to the UMN CTSI Office of Community Engagement for Health (OCEH).

Social Media

  • Dr. Lou participated in the AACR/ABC News Live Stream Chat on “Breakthroughs in Cancer Research” from the 2015 Annual Meeting.
    Read Article  |  Watch Video
  • Article on Dr. Lou’s panel discussion at the Professional Advancement Session on Social Media for Scientists at the 2015 AACR Annual Meeting. Read Article.

Tips to be a Great Patient Advocate

Funding

We are grateful to funding agencies that support our work, including the following.

Lab Members

Current Lab Members

Former Lab Members

  • Snider Desir, PhD
  • Sophie Korenfeld
  • Katherine Ladner, PhD
  • Sanyukta (Yuki) Padmanabhan
  • William Sperduto, MD
  • Venugopal Thayanithy, PhD
  • Elizabeth Dickson, MD
  • Shoshana Liu, BS

Collaborators

Outreach

The Lou Lab is a cancer research team that believes strongly in supporting community initiatives for cancer awareness, advocacy, education, and engagement of the cancer community both locally and nationally.

Dr. Lou was a panelist on an AACR-sponsored panel at The Atlantic’s People v Cancer event, November 12, 2019. Watch the panel.

Support our Work

Research is critical to advancing toward a cure for cancer.

Our promising work is only made possible by funds from granting agencies, foundations, and even individuals who share our vision that understanding cancer biology will lead to better and more effective treatment approaches to cancer.

Please consider joining our research team by donating funds to support our work – no donation is too small, and every dollar counts. Please click here for more information.

For Patients

Clinic Phone: (612) 676‑4200

If you are seeking medical consultation with Dr. Lou, please call the clinic directly and ask for new patient scheduling at the Masonic Cancer Clinic. Please do not send requests by e-mail.

Contact

If you are seeking medical consultation with Dr. Lou, please call the clinic directly and ask for new patient scheduling at the Masonic Cancer Clinic. Please do not send requests by e-mail. 

Principal Investigator
Emil Lou, MD, PhD
emil-lou@umn.edu
Lab Phone: (612) 626-4730
Twitter

Research Scientists
Emma Hawkins
hawki811@umn.edu
Lab Phone: (612) 626-4730

Phillip Wong
wongx016@umn.edu
Lab Phone: (612) 625-0979

Administrative Contact
Jordan Knapp 
jknapp@umn.edu
Phone: 612-626-1422
Fax:  612-625-6919

Lab Mailing Address
The Lou Lab
Phillip Wong
University of Minnesota
14-155 Phillips-Wangensteen Building
516 Delaware St SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455