Alana Welm

Alana Welm is a Professor and Chair of Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah. She leads groundbreaking research on breast cancer metastasis and precision oncology, with a focus on the Macrophage Stimulating Protein (MSP)/RON pathway and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models.

• Developed PDX models for spontaneous metastasis modeling
• Defined RON signaling in immune suppression and bone remodeling
• Contributed to precision medicine through PDX/organoid platforms
• Pioneered collaborations with global labs and pharmaceutical companies

Research Interests span metastatic mechanisms, tumor immunology, and drug discovery. Her work on RON kinase's role in tumor-immune interactions has led to therapeutic strategies combining kinase inhibitors with immunotherapies.

Recent Publications highlight advances in:

• Collagen biology and tumor dormancy (2025)
• Deep learning for precision treatment selection (2025)
• Targeted inhibition of RON in bone metastasis (2022)
• Immunotherapy combinations in triple-negative breast cancer (2021)

Lab Contributions include creating standardized PDX platforms used by over 100 labs worldwide, establishing protocols for functional precision oncology, and elucidating molecular mechanisms of metastasis across multiple organs.