Pierre Queiroz de Oliveira
Year started program: 2004
Program name: Molecular Pharmacology
2002 - MSc Pharmacology, University of Bath

Pittsburgh is a great city for graduate students. There is so much to do and living here is incredibly affordable. I was surprised by the cultural diversity that exists in steel city with its vastly diverse neighborhoods. It's a big city with a small town feel. Pittsburgh is a relaxed and culturally savvy city hosting a large number of cultural events as well as having a true passion for sports. Having played rugby for many years in England, I was happy to find several teams within the city and the University allowing me to meet people from all walks of life attesting to the cultural diversity of this city. When I was applying to graduate school is was looking for a university with a strong commitment to the training of future scientists as well as providing an environment that fosters translational research and the interaction between basic researchers and clinicians and also playing host to a diverse and dynamic student body. I found all of these things at the University of Pittsburgh. The school of Medicine provides an outstanding environment for learning and for the development of young scientists not only by providing students with cutting edge facilities but also by having highly accessible faculty that are always to willing to help, provide advice and mentoring. The School of Medicine also provides an excellent interface between bench research and the clinic allowing for the close interaction of basic scientists and clinicians. Through the Biomedical Graduate Student Association, students can interact with each other on both a social and scientific level as well as take part in numerous activities helping to form a strong feeling of community amongst the student body. The structure of the interdisciplinary program was very appealing to me in its breadth of possibilities. I was able to take classes from several different departments and rotate through a diverse set of laboratories and undertaking projects in drug discovery, tumor immunology, and breast cancer research, allowing me to make an informed decision on which degree-granting program to choose.

In the Lab of Dr John S. Lazo (Department of Pharmacology) I have been examining the role of hypoxia in controlling the cell cycle, in particular by affecting levels of the cell cycle phosphatase Cdc25A. Hypoxic regions are present in almost all solid tumors and low oxygen tension may play a role in the pathogenesis of many cancers in part by down regulating cell cycle proteins thus resulting in cell cycle arrest. this phenotype may confer a protective effect to tumors against chemotherapeutics and radiation therapy and contribute to cancer development.

Refereed Articles:

Siegfried JM, Gubish CT, Rothstein ME, Queiroz De Oliveira PE, Stabile LP. Signaling pathways involved in cyclooxygenase-2 induction by hepatocyte growth factor in non-small cell lung cancer. Mol Pharmacol. 2007; 72(3):769-79.

Watson GA, Zhang X, Stang MT, Levy RM, Queiroz de Oliveira PE, Gooding WE, Christensen JG, Hughes SJ. Inhibition of c-Met as a therapeutic strategy for esophageal adenocarcinoma. Neoplasia, 2006; 8(11): 949-955.

Lazo JS, Nunes R, Skoko JJ, Queiroz de Oliveira PE, Vogt A, Wipf P. Novel benzofuran inhibitors of human mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1. Bioorg Med Chem. 2006; 14(16):5643-50

Queiroz de Oliveira PE, Watson GA, Stang MT, Armstrong MJ, Gooding WE, Kuan SF, Yim JH, Hughes SJ. Ad-IRF-1 Induces Apoptosis in Esophageal Adenocarcinoma. Neoplasia. 2006; 8(1):31-7.

Mahidhara RS, Queiroz De Oliveira PE, Kohout J, Beer DG, Lin J, Watkins SC, Robbins PD, Hughes SJ. Altered trafficking of Fas and subsequent resistance to Fas-mediated apoptosis occurs by a wild-type p53 independent mechanism in esophageal adenocarcinoma. J Surg Res. 2005; 123(2):302-11.

Herrera LJ, El-Hefnawy T, Queiroz de Oliveira PE, Raja S, Finkelstein S, Gooding W, Luketich JD, Godfrey TE, Hughes SJ. The HGF receptor c-Met is overexpressed in esophageal adenocarcinoma. Neoplasia. 2005; 7(1):75-84.

Reviews and Commentaries:

Queiroz de Oliveira PE, Tomko RJ Jr, Lazo JS. Is a step backwards in s-phase-targeted chemotherapy a step forward? Molecular Interventions. 2008 Jun;8(3):137-40.

Queiroz de Oliveira PE. Meddling with MYC mucks up multiplication, Nascent Transcripts. Molecular Interventions 2007; 7(5): 243.

View All Featured Students