Peter Lucas, MD, PhD
Dr Lucas currently serves as the Vice Chair for Translational Pathology Imaging and Professor of Pathology and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh. In addition to directing his own research group, Dr Lucas co-chairs the NRG Oncology Pathology Committee and is Director of Pathology for the NSABP Foundation. Dr Lucas is also the Director of Translational Pathology at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and Associate Director of the Institute for Precision Medicine.
Dr. Lucas is a physician-scientist, directing a laboratory that focuses on the relationship between chronic inflammation and the development of vascular, metabolic, and neoplastic diseases. Specifically, his lab focuses on the role of an NF- κB signaling pathway that is controlled by the “CBM signalosome”, a complex of three proteins (CARMA, Bcl10, and MALT1). Dr. Lucas’ lab originally identified this signalosome in lymphocytes, where it mediates NF- κB activation in response to antigen receptor ligation, and plays a critical role in the immune response. More recently, his group has found that an analogous signaling pathway operates outside the confines of the immune system, in epithelial and mesenchymal cells, where it promotes pro-inflammatory responses that contribute to a range of disease processes.