Dr. Susan P. C. Cole

Susan Cole is an internationally recognized authority on mechanisms by which human tumor cells become resistant to chemotherapy. In particular, using one of her lung cancer models, her laboratory (in collaboration with Dr. Roger Deeley) isolated a multidrug resistance gene encoding a novel drug efflux pump named MRP that can cause drug resistance. She is also well known for her studies on other mechanisms by which cancer cells develop resistance. Perhaps the most notable of these involves the enzyme topoisomerase II which plays an essential role in the process of cell division. Dr. Cole serves on the Editorial Board of the prestigious cancer journal Cancer Research, as well as the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapy, Tumori, and the International Journal of Oncology. She has received several awards in recognition of her research contributions and she is in demand to speak at research institutes, major universities and international conferences. Dr. Cole has attained this status through her extraordinary dedication to understanding fully the nature of tumor cell response to cytotoxic drugs.