This is unpublished

Cynthia
Sprenger
PhD

Cynthia Sprenger PhD

(206) 897-1327

Fax: (206) 897-5396

Faculty
Basic Science Research
Pinned
Academic
Associate Professor
Professional
Director, Medical Student Scholarship

Education & Training

  • Postdoctoral Training, University of Washington, Department of Medicine, Seattle WA (2009-2011)
  • Postdoctoral Training, University of Washington, Department of Urology, Seattle WA (2008-2009)
  • PhD, Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle WA (2007)
  • College, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma WA (1996)

Honors

  • Outstanding Research Mentor Award, Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) Program, University of Washington, Seattle WA (2015)
  • European Association of Urology International Committee on Urologic Diseases (EAU-ICUD) (2014)
  • DOD Prostate Cancer Research Program Postdoctoral Research Award (2009-2011)
  • DOD Prostate Cancer Research Program Predoctoral Research Award (2006-2008)

Research Interests

Dr. Sprenger has two research interests:

  1. the role of the microenvironment in tumor dormancy
  2. the role of androgen receptor splice variants in castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

Dr. Sprenger has developed prostate cancer cell models of tumor dormancy for both in vitro and in vivo studies. In collaboration with Dr. Buddy Ratner’s group in the UW Bioengineering Department, Dr. Sprenger uses a unique bioscaffold to model tumor dormancy in vivo. These models are providing insight into the roles of immune factors and the extracellular matrix in tumor dormancy.
 
Dr. Sprenger also is involved in developing and testing small molecule inhibitors as therapy against castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), in particular CRPC that is driven by the androgen receptor (AR) and its splice variants (AR-SVs). This work is highly interdisciplinary and spans collaborations with members of the UW School of Medicine (Divisions of Geriatric Medicine and Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Department of Urology), the UW Chemistry Department, and with labs throughout the U.S. and internationally. Dr. Sprenger was a co-discoverer of the AR splice variant, ARv567es, and has directed the designing/analyzing of AR and AR-SVs over the past several years, including the development of the probasin driven Pb-ARv567es transgenic mouse. This model can be used to test new therapies against CRPC that is driven by AR-SVs. In addition, Dr. Sprenger is collaborating with Dr. Ian Blair (Penn) to develop and test a method of accurately quantifying the amount of full-length AR and AR-SVs in patient prostate cancer tissues and circulating tumor cells, which will aid clinically in treatment decisions for patients with advanced prostate cancer.

Publications

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