Bryan E. Welm, PhD

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments: Surgery - Associate Professor, Oncological Sciences - Adjunct Associate Professor

Divisions: General Surgery

Academic Office Information

bryan.welm@hci.utah.edu

Labs

Research Interests

  • Breast Cancer
  • Therapeutics
  • Mammary Tumor Virus, Mouse
Bryan Welm, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Utah, an investigator at the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI), and a member of the Cell Response and Regulation Program.

Welm investigates the link between breast stem cells and breast cancer. The breast is a highly regenerative organ that undergoes many growth and functional changes during pregnancies. This regenerative capacity has been attributed to a rare stem cell population that can give rise to the many different cell types of the mammary gland. Studies provide evidence that breast stem cells may be the cells that cause breast cancer.

It is poorly understood how the mechanisms that drive changes and growth of stem cells become dysregulated in breast cancer. Welm's main research interest is to understand the cause of breast cancer by identifying the cellular origins for cancer and the initial transforming events within those cells.

Welm joined HCI after completing postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Zena Werb, PhD, at the University of California, San Francisco.

Education History

Postdoctoral Fellowship University of California, San Francisco
 Postdoctoral Fellow
Doctoral Training Baylor College of Medicine
Cell and Molecular Biology 		Ph.D.
Undergraduate University of California, Santa Cruz
Biology 		B.A.
Undergraduate Diablo Valley College

Selected Publications

  1. Conway ME, McDaniel JM, Graham JM, Guillen KP, Oliver PG, Parker SL, Yue P, Turkson J, Buchsbaum DJ, Welm BE, Myers RM, Varley KE (2020). STAT3 and GR cooperate to drive gene expression and growth of basal-like triple-negative breast cancer. Cancer Res, 80(20), 4355-4370.
  2. Rodriguez AC, Vahrenkamp JM, Berrett KC, Clark KA, Guillen KP, Scherer SD, Yang CH, Welm BE, Jant-Amsbury MM, Graves BJ, Gertz J (2020). ETV4 Is Necessary for Estrogen Signaling and Growth in Endometrial Cancer Cells. Cancer Res, 80(6), 1234-1245.
  3. Kinsey CG, Camolotto SA, Boespflug AM, Guillen KP, Foth M, Truong A, Schuman SS, Shea JE, Seipp MT, Yap JT, Burrell LD, Lum DH, Whisenant JR, Gilcrease GW 3rd, Cavalieri CC, Rehbein KM, Cutler SL, Affolter KE, Welm AL, Welm BE, Scaife CL, Snyder EL, McMahon M (2019). Protective autophagy elicited by RAF→MEK→ERK inhibition suggests a treatment strategy for RAS-driven cancers. Nat Med, 25(4), 620-627.
  4. DeRose YS, Gligorich KM, Wang G, Georgelas A, Bowman P, Courdy SJ, Welm AL, Welm BE (2013). Patient-derived models of human breast cancer: protocols for in vitro and in vivo applications in tumor biology and translational medicine. Curr Protoc Pharmacol, Chapter 14, Unit14.23.
  5. Basham KJ, Kieffer C, Shelton DN, Leonard CJ, Bhonde VR, Vankayalapati H, Milash B, Bearss DJ, Looper RE, Welm BE (2013). Chemical genetic screen reveals a role for desmosomal adhesion in mammary branching morphogenesis. J Biol Chem, 288(4), 2261-70.
  6. Gligorich KM, Vaden RM, Shelton DN, Wang G, Matsen CB, Looper RE, Sigman MS, Welm BE (2013). Development of a screen to identify selective small molecules active against patient-derived metastatic and chemoresistant breast cancer cells. Breast Cancer Res, 15(4), R58.
  7. Lum DH, Matsen C, Welm AL, Welm BE (2012). Overview of human primary tumorgraft models: comparisons with traditional oncology preclinical models and the clinical relevance and utility of primary tumorgrafts in basic and translational oncology research. Curr Protoc Pharmacol, Chapter 14, Unit 14.22.
  8. Smith BA, Shelton DN, Kieffer C, Milash B, Usary J, Perou CM, Bernard PS, Welm BE (2012). Targeting the PyMT Oncogene to Diverse Mammary Cell Populations Enhances Tumor Heterogeneity and Generates Rare Breast Cancer Subtypes. Genes Cancer, 3(9-10), 550-63.
  9. Pathak TP, Osiak JG, Vaden RM, Welm BE, Sigman MS (2012). Synthesis and Preliminary Biological Study of Bisindolylmethanes Accessed by an Acid-Catalyzed Hydroarylation of Vinylindoles. Tetrahedron, 68(26), 5203-5208.
  10. Smith BA, Welm AL, Welm BE (2012). On the shoulders of giants: a historical perspective of unique experimental methods in mammary gland research. [Review]. Semin Cell Dev Biol, 23(5), 583-90.
  11. Liu J, Welm B, Boucher KM, Ebbert MT, Bernard PS (2012). TRIM29 functions as a tumor suppressor in nontumorigenic breast cells and invasive ER+ breast cancer. Am J Pathol, 180(2), 839-47.
  12. Maddox J, Shakya A, South S, Shelton D, Andersen JN, Chidester S, Kang J, Gligorich KM, Jones DA, Spangrude GJ, Welm BE, Tantin D (2012). Transcription factor Oct1 is a somatic and cancer stem cell determinant. PLoS Genet, 8(11), e1003048.
  13. DeRose YS, Wang G, Lin YC, Bernard PS, Buys SS, Ebbert MT, Factor R, Matsen C, Milash BA, Nelson E, Neumayer L, Randall RL, Stijleman IJ, Welm BE, Welm AL (2011). Tumor grafts derived from women with breast cancer authentically reflect tumor pathology, growth, metastasis and disease outcomes. Nat Med, 17(11), 1514-20.
  14. Pathak TP, Gligorich KM, Welm BE, Sigman MS (2010). Synthesis and preliminary biological studies of 3-substituted indoles accessed by a palladium-catalyzed enantioselective alkene difunctionalization reaction. J Am Chem Soc, 132(23), 7870-1.
  15. Shelton DN, Fernandez-Gonzalez R, Illa-Bochaca I, Ortiz-de-Solorzano C, Barcellos-Hoff MH, Welm BE (2010). Use of stem cell markers in dissociated mammary populations. Methods Mol Biol, 621, 49-55.
  16. Fernandez-Gonzalez R, Illa-Bochaca I, Welm BE, Fleisch MC, Werb Z, Ortiz-de-Solorzano C, Barcellos-Hoff MH (2008). Mapping mammary gland architecture using multi-scale in situ analysis. Integr Biol (Camb), 1(1), 80-9.
  17. Egeblad M, Ewald AJ, Askautrud HA, Truitt ML, Welm BE, Bainbridge E, Peeters G, Krummel MF, Werb Z (2008). Visualizing stromal cell dynamics in different tumor microenvironments by spinning disk confocal microscopy. Dis Model Mech, 1(2-3), 155-67; discussion 165.