Madison Wicker
4th Year 

Dissertation Mentor: Kay-Uwe Wagner, Ph.D.

Research Focus: Understanding the role of oncogenic RAS signaling and cooperative mutations in TP53 and CDKN2A in driving the development and progression of claudin-low triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), utilizing novel genetically engineered mouse models developed by the Wagner laboratory.

Grants/ Awards/ Scholarships:
2023 - 2025 NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein Research Training Recipient (T32-CA009531)
2024 Second Place Poster Presentation at the Tri-University Breast Cancer Research Retreat
2023 First Place Poster Presentation at WSU Tumor Biology and Microenvironment Symposium
2023 Second Place Poster Presentation at WSU Cancer Biology Annual Symposium
2021 Second Place Oral Presentation at WSU Tumor Biology and Microenvironment Symposium
2020 - 2023 Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences (IBS) Fellowship
2020 WSU Cancer Biology Director’s Award – Wayne State University School of Medicine
2019 WSU Cancer Biology Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) – Wayne State University

Committee(s):
2022 - 2023 Student Representative, Cancer Biology Program
2022 WSU Graduate Student Research Presentation Day (GSRPD) Organizer
2021 - Current WSU Cancer Biology SURF Student Lecturer
2021 - Current Women Scientists in Cancer Research Member
2021 - Current Rapid Autopsy Program (RAP) Volunteer
2021 - Current WSU Cancer Biology Curriculum Committee Membe

Publications:

Shrestha, H., Rädler, P. D., Dennaoui, R., Wicker, M. N., Rajbhandari, N., Sun, Y., Peck, A. R., Vistisen, K., Triplett, A. A., Beydoun, R., Sterneck, E., Saur, D., Rui, H., & Wagner, K. U. The Janus kinase 1 is critical for pancreatic cancer initiation and progression. Cell reports, 2024;43:114202.

Wicker, M. N., & Wagner, K. U. Cellular Plasticity in Mammary Gland Development and Breast Cancer. Cancers, 2023;15:5605.

Viola, N. T., Glassbrook, J. E., Kalluri, J. R., Hackett, J. B., Wicker, M. N., Sternberg, J., & Gibson, H. M. Evaluation of an ImmunoPET Tracer for IL-12 in a Preclinical Model of Inflammatory Immune Responses. Frontiers in immunology, 2022;13:870110.

White, J. M., Kuda-Wedagedara, A. N., Wicker, M. N., Spratt, D. E., Schopperle, W. M., Heath, E., & Viola, N. T. Detecting TRA-1-60 in Cancer via a Novel Zr-89 Labeled ImmunoPET Imaging Agent. Molecular pharmaceutics, 2020;17:1139-47.

Education:

2019 B.S. in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology - University of Michigan - Flint

Hometown: Flushing, MI