Benjamin T. Spike

Benjamin T. Spike, PhD

Languages spoken: English, German

Academic Information

Departments Primary - Oncological Sciences

Lab

Benjamin Spike, PhD, is an investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) and an assistant professor in the Department of Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah. He is a member of the Cancer Center in the Cell Response and Regulation Program, a faculty member of the Molecular Biology graduate program and a member of the HCI Breast/Gynecological Cancers Center (BGCC).

Dr. Spike’s research seeks to understand the molecular regulators of cell behavior in complex tissues during normal development and cancer. Work in his laboratory is currently focused on stem cells in mammary gland development and breast cancer. His laboratory uses molecular/genetic cell engineering, 2D and 3D culture systems and in vivo experimental models, as well as single cell transcriptomics and computational approaches.

Dr. Spike received undergraduate degrees and a Masters degree from the University of California, San Diego. He received his PhD in Cancer Biology from the University of Chicago. He subsequently trained at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies before joining HCI and the University of Utah.

Education History

Undergraduate University of California, San Diego
 BA
Undergraduate University of California, San Diego
 BS
Other Training Georg-August University
 Visiting Scholar
Graduate Training University of California, San Diego
 MS
Doctoral Training University of Chicago
 PhD
Postdoctoral Training Salk Institute for Biological Studies
 Postdoctoral Training

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Klauzinska M, Castro NP, Rangel MC, Spike BT, Gray PC, Bertolette D, Cuttitta F, Salomon D (2014). The multifaceted role of the embryonic gene Cripto-1 in cancer, stem cells and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Semin Cancer Biol, 29, 51-8.
  2. Spike BT, Dibling BC, Macleod KF (2007). Hypoxic stress underlies defects in erythroblast islands in the Rb-null mouse. Blood, 110(6), 2173-81.
  3. Pfefferle AD, Spike BT, Wahl GM, Perou CM (2015). Luminal progenitor and fetal mammary stem cell expression features predict breast tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Breast Cancer Res Treat, 149(2), 425-37.
  4. Liu H, Dibling B, Spike B, Dirlam A, Macleod K (2004). New roles for the RB tumor suppressor protein. Curr Opin Genet Dev, 14(1), 55-64.
  5. Spike BT, Dirlam A, Dibling BC, Marvin J, Williams BO, Jacks T, Macleod K (2004). The Rb tumor suppressor is required for stress erythropoiesis. The EMBO journal, 23(21), 4319-29.
  6. Rowley AH, Shulman ST, Spike BT, Mask CA, Baker S (2001). Oligoclonal IgA response in the vascular wall in acute Kawasaki disease. Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md., 166(2), 1334-43.
  7. Tracy K, Dibling BC, Spike BT, Knabb JR, Schumacker P, Macleod K (2007). BNIP3 is an RB/E2F target gene required for hypoxia-induced autophagy. Molecular and cellular biology, 27(17), 6229-42.
  8. Dirlam A, Spike BT, Macleod K (2007). Deregulated E2f-2 underlies cell cycle and maturation defects in retinoblastoma null erythroblasts. Molecular and cellular biology, 27(24), 8713-28.
  9. Diwan A, Koesters AG, Odley AM, Pushkaran S, Baines CP, Spike BT, Daria D, Jegga AG, Geiger H, Aronow BJ, Molkentin JD, Macleod KF, Kalfa TA, Dorn GW 2n (2007). Unrestrained erythroblast development in Nix-/- mice reveals a mechanism for apoptotic modulation of erythropoiesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(16), 6794-9.
  10. Mizuno H, Spike BT, Wahl GM, Levine A (2010). Inactivation of p53 in breast cancers correlates with stem cell transcriptional signatures. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(52), 22745-50.
  11. Max N, Wolf K, Spike B, Thiel E, Keilholz (2001). Nested quantitative real time PCR for detection of occult tumor cells. Recent results in cancer research. Fortschritte der Krebsforschung. Progres dans les recherches sur le cancer, 158, 25-31.
  12. Aladjem MI, Spike BT, Rodewald LW, Hope TJ, Klemm M, Jaenisch R, Wahl G (1998). ES cells do not activate p53-dependent stress responses and undergo p53-independent apoptosis in response to DNA damage. Current biology, 8(3), 145-55.
  13. Cowman SJ, Fuja DG, Liu XD, Tidwell RSS, Kandula N, Sirohi D, Agarwal AM, Emerson LL, Tripp SR, Mohlman JS, Stonhill M, Garcia G, Conley CJ, Olalde AA, Sargis T, Ramirez-Torres A, Karam JA, Wood CG, Sircar K, Tamboli P, Boucher K, Maughan B, Spike BT, Ho TH, Agarwal N, Jonasch E, Koh M (2020). Macrophage HIF-1¿ Is an Independent Prognostic Indicator in Kidney Cancer. Clinical cancer research, 26(18), 4970-4982.
  14. Makarem M, Spike BT, Dravis C, Kannan N, Wahl GM, Eaves C (2013). Stem cells and the developing mammary gland. Journal of mammary gland biology and neoplasia, 18(2), 209-19.
  15. Balcioglu O, Heinz RE, Freeman DW, Gates BL, Hagos BM, Booker E, Mirzaei Mehrabad E, Diesen HT, Bhakta K, Ranganathan S, Kachi M, Leblanc M, Gray PC, Spike B (2020). CRIPTO antagonist ALK4L75A-Fc inhibits breast cancer cell plasticity and adaptation to stress. Breast cancer research, 22(1), 125.
  16. Pfefferle AD, Herschkowitz JI, Usary J, Harrell JC, Spike BT, Adams JR, Torres-Arzayus MI, Brown M, Egan SE, Wahl GM, Rosen JM, Perou C (2013). Transcriptomic classification of genetically engineered mouse models of breast cancer identifies human subtype counterparts. Genome biology, 14(11), R125.
  17. Ireland AS, Micinski AM, Kastner DW, Guo B, Wait SJ, Spainhower KB, Conley CC, Chen OS, Guthrie MR, Soltero D, Qiao Y, Huang X, Tarapcsák S, Devarakonda S, Chalishazar MD, Gertz J, Moser JC, Marth G, Puri S, Witt BL, Spike BT, Oliver T (2020). MYC Drives Temporal Evolution of Small Cell Lung Cancer Subtypes by Reprogramming Neuroendocrine Fate. Cancer cell, 38(1), 60-78.e12.
  18. Spike BT, Macleod K (2005). The Rb tumor suppressor in stress responses and hematopoietic homeostasis. Cell cycle (Georgetown, Tex.), 4(1), 42-5.
  19. Spike BT, Macleod K (2007). Effects of hypoxia on heterotypic macrophage interactions. Cell cycle (Georgetown, Tex.), 6(21), 2620-4.
  20. Liu H, Knabb JR, Spike BT, Macleod K (2009). Elevated poly-(ADP-ribose)-polymerase activity sensitizes retinoblastoma-deficient cells to DNA damage-induced necrosis. Molecular cancer research, 7(7), 1099-109.
  21. Saison-Ridinger M, DelGiorno KE, Zhang T, Kraus A, French R, Jaquish D, Tsui C, Erikson G, Spike BT, Shokhirev MN, Liddle C, Yu RT, Downes M, Evans RM, Saghatelian A, Lowy AM, Wahl G (2017). Reprogramming pancreatic stellate cells via p53 activation: A putative target for pancreatic cancer therapy. PloS one, 12(12), e0189051.
  22. Spike BT, Engle DD, Lin JC, Cheung SK, La J, Wahl G (2012). A mammary stem cell population identified and characterized in late embryogenesis reveals similarities to human breast cancer. Cell stem cell, 10(2), 183-97.
  23. Spike BT, Wahl G (2011). p53, Stem Cells, and Reprogramming: Tumor Suppression beyond Guarding the Genome. Genes & cancer, 2(4), 404-19.
  24. Zhu G, Wang M, Spike B, Gray PC, Shen J, Lee SH, Chen SY, Lee A (2014). Differential requirement of GRP94 and GRP78 in mammary gland development. Scientific reports, 4, 5390.
  25. Dravis C, Spike BT, Harrell JC, Johns C, Trejo CL, Southard-Smith EM, Perou CM, Wahl G (2015). Sox10 Regulates Stem/Progenitor and Mesenchymal Cell States in Mammary Epithelial Cells. Cell reports, 12(12), 2035-48.
  26. Giraddi RR, Chung CY, Heinz RE, Balcioglu O, Novotny M, Trejo CL, Dravis C, Hagos BM, Mehrabad EM, Rodewald LW, Hwang JY, Fan C, Lasken R, Varley KE, Perou CM, Wahl GM, Spike B (2018). Single-Cell Transcriptomes Distinguish Stem Cell State Changes and Lineage Specification Programs in Early Mammary Gland Development. Cell reports, 24(6), 1653-1666.e7.
  27. Spike BT, Kelber JA, Booker E, Kalathur M, Rodewald R, Lipianskaya J, La J, He M, Wright T, Klemke R, Wahl GM, Gray P (2014). CRIPTO/GRP78 signaling maintains fetal and adult mammary stem cells ex vivo. Stem cell reports, 2(4), 427-39.
  28. Jiao X, Li Z, Wang M, Katiyar S, Di Sante G, Farshchian M, South AP, Cocola C, Colombo D, Reinbold R, Zucchi I, Wu K, Tabas I, Spike BT, Pestell R (2019). Dachshund Depletion Disrupts Mammary Gland Development and Diverts the Composition of the Mammary Gland Progenitor Pool. Stem cell reports, 12(1), 135-151.
  29. Wahl GM, Spike B (2017). Cell state plasticity, stem cells, EMT, and the generation of intra-tumoral heterogeneity. NPJ breast cancer, 3, 14.
  30. Trejo CL, Luna G, Dravis C, Spike BT, Wahl G (2017). Lgr5 is a marker for fetal mammary stem cells, but is not essential for stem cell activity or tumorigenesis. NPJ breast cancer, 3, 16.
  31. Orstad G, Fort G, Parnell TJ, Jones A, Stubben C, Lohman B, Gillis KL, Orellana W, Tariq R, Klingbeil O, Kaestner K, Vakoc CR, Spike BT, Snyder E (2022). FoxA1 and FoxA2 control growth and cellular identity in NKX2-1-positive lung adenocarcinoma. Developmental cell, 57(15), 1866-1882.e10.
  32. Polanco ER, Moustafa TE, Butterfield A, Scherer SD, Cortes-Sanchez E, Bodily T, Spike BT, Welm BE, Bernard PS, Zangle T (2022). Multiparametric quantitative phase imaging for real-time, single cell, drug screening in breast cancer. Communications biology, 5(1), 794.

Book Chapter

  1. Keilholz U, Max N, Spike B, Willhauk (2000). PCR-based detection of malignant cells: Towards molecular staging?. 1-18.
  2. Spike B (2016). Breast Cancer Stem Cells and the Move Toward High-Resolution Stem Cell Systems.

Editorial

  1. Kelber JA, Iwanicki M, Kruithof-de Julio M, Spike BT, Martínez-Montemayor M (2024). Editorial: Mechanisms of microenvironment governed plasticity and progression in solid tumors. Frontiers in cell and developmental biology, 12, 1373496.