Events

Dr. Madeline Hayes pursued postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, in the laboratory of Dr. David Langenau, where she focused on paediatric cancer biology and honing her skills in zebrafish cancer modeling, human tissue culture, zebrafish xenograft, and mouse xenograft transplantation techniques. The Hayes Lab at UoT and SickKids incorporates developmental biology and cancer signaling, zebrafish modeling, human tissue culture, and xenograft transplantation approaches to better understand underlying biology related to aggressive pediatric solid tumors including neuroblastoma and sarcomas. The lab aims to leverage complementary model systems for the discovery of novel genetic mechanisms and effective therapeutic targets for translation to the clinic.

Ass. Prof. Hayes will serve as the opponent in the PhD defense of Nebeyu Gizaw on Thursday 12.6. at 1 pm in Biomedicum Lecture hall 1, titled “The Role of PROX1 Transcription Factor in Rhabdomyosarcoma: Mechanisms of Tumorigenesis and Therapeutic Targeting ” 

Selected publications:

DNA damage response deficiency enhances neuroblastoma progression and sensitivity to combination PARP and ATR inhibition.

Hayes MN, Cohen-Gogo S, Kee L, Xiong X, Weiss A, Layeghifard M, Ladumor Y, Valencia-Sama I, Rajaselvam A, Kaplan DR, Villani A, Shlien A, Morgenstern DA, Irwin MS.

Cell Rep. 2025 Apr 22;44(4):115537. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115537. Epub 2025 Apr 11. PMID: 40220294

A syngeneic spontaneous zebrafish model of tp53-deficient, EGFRvIII, and PI3KCAH1047R-driven glioblastoma reveals inhibitory roles for inflammation during tumor initiation and relapse in vivo.

Weiss A, D'Amata C, Pearson BJ, Hayes MN. Elife. 2024 Jul 25;13:RP93077. doi: 10.7554/eLife.93077. PMID: 39052000

Single-cell analysis and functional characterization uncover the stem cell hierarchies and developmental origins of rhabdomyosarcoma.

Wei Y, Qin Q, Yan C, Hayes MN, Garcia SP, Xi H, Do D, Jin AH, Eng TC, McCarthy KM, Adhikari A, Onozato ML, Spentzos D, Neilsen GP, Iafrate AJ, Wexler LH, Pyle AD, Suvà ML, Dela Cruz F, Pinello L, Langenau DM.

Nat Cancer. 2022 Aug;3(8):961-975. doi: 10.1038/s43018-022-00414-w. Epub 2022 Aug 18. PMID: 35982179

Vangl2/RhoA Signaling Pathway Regulates Stem Cell Self-Renewal Programs and Growth in Rhabdomyosarcoma.

Hayes MN, McCarthy K, Jin A, Oliveira ML, Iyer S, Garcia SP, Sindiri S, Gryder B, Motala Z, Nielsen GP, Borg JP, van de Rijn M, Malkin D, Khan J, Ignatius MS, Langenau DM.