Klementina Fon Tacer, DVM, Ph.D.

Personal Information

Klementina is an Assistant Professor of Genetics, Biochemistry, and Oncology and a Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Scholar. She originally comes from Slovenia, Europe. After obtaining her veterinary degree and Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Ljubljana, she came to the U.S. for her post-doctoral training at the UTSW Medical Center in Dallas, TX. Klementina returned to her native Slovenia where she taught at the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Ljubljana. Science brought her back to the U.S.; first to the UTSW Medical Center in Dallas but then the laboratory moved to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, where she was studying proteins that are normally restricted to germ cells but get often hijacked by cancer.

CV

Research Interests

The overarching aim of Fon Tacer lab research goals is to uncover novel mechanisms that evolved to protect mammalian germ cells against stress, discover how they are regulated by MAGE cancer-testis antigens, and why they are co-opted in cancer to ultimately apply the insights learned for the advancement of cancer treatment and fertility preservation. Just recently, we provided the first evidence that cancer hijacks the MAGE-regulated functions that originally evolved to protect male germline and provide reproductive advantage to males under stress, including metabolic stress due to fasting. Our future research aims to uncover the molecular underpinning of these protective MAGE-regulated pathways in mammalian cells under stress, including DNA damaging agents, heat, and metabolic stress.

Publications:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/14uNTmD4_j7k_/bibliography/public

Website: 
https://www.depts.ttu.edu/vetschool/about/meet-our-team/faculty/klementina-fon-tacer/index.php

Texas Center for Comparative Cancer Research (TC3R) website: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/vetschool/research/links/centers-and-institutes/texas-center-for-comparative-cancer-research/index.php

Future Research Collaboration Interests