Junta editorial

Manuel Rieber PhD is head of the Tumor Cell Biology Laboratory at IVIC, and an Honorary member of the Venezuelan Society of Oncology (SVO).

His research interests include antagonizing the survival of minor tumor cell subpopulations that develop resistance to cancer therapy when exposed to  acutely toxic treatments. Irrespective of the mechanism of resistance, this is likely to involve malignant clones with high metabolic demands, capable of growing in a restrictive microenvironment characterized by sub-optimal levels of oxygen, glucose and other nutrients.  His group uses pre-clinical models to improve response to low dose chemotherapy, together with sub-toxic levels of  specific metabolic inhibitors and modulators of oxidative stress, to define the role of the microenvironment in counteracting intrinsic and acquired resistance to drug therapy.