Congratulations to Dr. Afroditi Petsakou, a former member of team CANCAN! She has recently become an assistant professor in the Developmental and Molecular Biology Department at Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. Afroditi was part of the CANCAN team in the Norbert Perrimon Lab from 2022 to 2025 and represented the team at last year’s Cancer Grand Challenges Summit in Boston, where she presented during the CANCAN Team update. Dr. Petsakou’s lab will focus on the neuro-gut axis during intestinal regeneration, tumorigenesis, and the early stages of cancer cachexia. Her research will utilize Drosophila genetics and mammalian organoids to investigate how the interactions between the nervous and intestinal systems help restore tissue homeostasis.
Team CANCAN Highlighted in the Nature Feature Article “New hope in the fight against cachexia-cancer’s deadly conspirator”
Team CANCAN hosted the 2026 Cancer and the Host Conference in London, bringing together world-leading researchers to advance discoveries in cancer-host interactions, cachexia, metabolism, and patient care.
