Alumni Stories with Svetlana Sadekova: A Journey in Cancer Drug Development

How are you connected to the GCI?

After obtaining my Ph.D. from Rostov State University, Russia, I first came to Montreal as a postdoc at Montreal General Hospital studying DNA repair and molecular mechanisms of the adaptive response to ionizing radiation under the supervision of Dr. Terry Chow.

I subsequently joined McGill Cancer Center (now the Goodman Cancer Institute, GCI), where I did my second postdoc under the supervision of Dr. Nicole Beauchemin. In Dr. Beauchemin's lab, I focused on the mechanism of action of CEACAM1 in cancer, a molecule discovered by Nicole. I was fortunate to join the community of scientists studying signal transduction and the role of the actin cytoskeleton in cell motility and metastasis.

After spending two years and publishing several papers with Dr. Beauchemin, I obtained a position as a Research Associate in the Molecular Oncology group under the supervision of Dr. Morag Park, which quickly led to my appointment as a Director of the Breast Cancer Functional Genomics Group founded by Dr. Morag Park and Dr. Sarkis Meterissian. This was an incredible opportunity that deeply impacted my future career! I had a chance to build a lab, hire my group (12 scientists), participate in raising significant funds from Genome Canada and Montreal Breast Cancer Foundation, and obtain my first research grant from Genentech. This was a truly collaborative project involving scientists, surgeons, pathologists, and bioinformaticians, and I am very proud of the work that we have done.

Besides professional connections, I also have a lot of personal links to GCI and Montreal: I met my husband through my work at Morag's lab, my first daughter, Kathrine, was born in Royal Victoria hospital, I bought my first house in Montreal, and made several life-long friends that I have remained in contact with for the past 20 years and give me a reason to visit often!

What do you do now?

My experience leading the Breast Cancer Functional Genomics Group at McGill helped me realize that I wanted to dedicate my career to cancer drug development. After I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2006, I took a job at Schering Plough Biopharma, leading a translational pathology lab focusing on developing platforms to analyze human tissues. Following the merger of Schering Plough and Merck in 2009, I held various positions of increasing responsibility, leading to my current role as an Executive Director, Discovery Oncology at Merck, South San Francisco. In this role, I oversee all the aspects of pre-clinical drug development, from target identification and validation to making and developing drug candidates for Phase I clinical trials. The main focus of my department is oncology biologics, including monoclonal antibodies, antibody/drug conjugates (ADC), bi-specific immune engagers, and cytokines.

In addition to leading internal discovery efforts, a significant portion of my time is dedicated to evaluating external businesses and establishing collaborations with early-stage companies or, in some cases supporting licensing agreements and conducting diligence for acquisitions. This is an exciting opportunity to learn about innovative ideas and enrich Merck's oncology pipeline.

I have witnessed many ups and downs during my seventeen years at Schering Plough and Merck. The two highlights of my career are being part of developing our immune-oncology pipeline and, more recently, our antibody-drug conjugates. With pride and amazement, I watched the number of patients treated with Keytruda, Merck PD1 inhibitor, hit the one million mark in 2022! I have been fortunate to be at Merck during these exciting times and have contributed to many immune-oncology programs brought to the clinic.

One piece of advice that you would give to the next generation of cancer researchers.

We are often wrong, but we can learn and adapt. Stay open-minded, be flexible and data-driven, and focus on the science!

On a practical note, I strongly encourage undergraduate and graduate students to apply for summer internships and co-op programs at universities or companies. This will open up a world of opportunities and, most importantly, offer a chance to experience the researcher's life and learn about various other jobs you can have with a degree in science, e.g., business development, patent law, safety assessment, project management, etc.

How has the training received at the GCI helped you become the professional you are?

The training and experience I received at GCI provided a strong foundation and undoubtfully set high standards that I am inspired to maintain throughout my career. The opportunity to lead the Breast Cancer Functional Genomics group and be part of the multidisciplinary team helped me to realize my passion for drug development and set my path in the industry.