E. Aubrey Thompson, Ph.D.

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SUMMARY

The research interests of E. Aubrey Thompson, Ph.D., involve the development and the implementation of new spatial biology technology with a major focus on understanding the relationship between clinical phenotype and basic immunobiology of solid tumors. He leads the Hormones and Cancer Laboratory, that studies gene structure and function, focusing mainly on breast cancer. Dr. Thompson works primarily on single-cell spatial RNA and protein abundance with a view toward identifying, quantifying and assessing the activity of every cell within a tumor.

Focus areas

• High-risk breast cancer. The Thompson lab team works primarily with clinical samples derived from people with HER2-positive and triple-negative breast cancer. Such samples are derived from Mayo Clinic patients with breast cancer or from therapeutic trials. Single-cell spatial RNA and protein analysis is carried out to define the transcriptomic or proteomic profile of every cell within a tumor sample.

  From such data, it is possible to identify every cell and determine the number, activity and location of all such cells within a tumor. The overall objective is to use the data to provide fundamental insight into the immunobiology of breast cancer. This data also is used to build models that predict therapeutic response, identify potential new therapeutic targets or both.

• Benign breast disease. Collaborative studies are ongoing to use spatial biology technology to identify features that predict the risk of progression from benign breast conditions to breast cancer.
• Spatial biology. The Thompson lab team has a long-standing interest in development and deployment of new spatial technologies. These new spatial technologies permit interrogation, in detail, of features that are associated with tumor cell and immune cell interactions.

Significance to patient care

In the last few years, researchers have come to understand that the host immune system plays a major role in the development of harmful diseases and in treatment outcomes. The Thompson lab team focuses on understanding the basic immunobiology of high-risk breast cancer. Dr. Thompson strives to understand how tumors evade the immune system. He also studies why treatment to strengthen the immune system, known as immunotherapy, works in some individuals but not in others and how to identify people who may benefit from immunotherapy.

Professional highlights

• Director, Mayo Clinic Spatial Biology Core, 2024-present.
• Co-director, Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer Translational Genomics Program, 2008-present.