Peter Storz

Peter Storz, Ph.D., is a Professor of Cancer Biology at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. He holds joint appointments in the Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology. His research focuses on pancreatic cancer development and progression, particularly mechanisms involving acinar-to-ductal metaplasia, reactive oxygen species, and macrophage interactions. Dr. Storz co-directs the Pancreatic Cancer Group at Mayo Clinic.

Education: PhD in Cell Biology (University of Stuttgart), MSc in Biology (University of Stuttgart), Research Fellowships at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Harvard Medical School) and University of Stuttgart.

Research Interests: Dr. Storz investigates signaling pathways driven by oncogenic KRAS, mitochondrial ROS generation, and inflammatory macrophage polarization in pancreatic cancer. His lab develops liquid biopsy-based early detection methods and targets therapeutic pathways like PKD1 inhibition. Recent work explores enterovirus roles in cancer initiation and immunotherapy strategies for tumor microenvironment modulation.

Awards: Distinguished Investigator of the Year (2016), Career Development Awards from Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (2008) and DoD (2011).

Grants & Collaborations: Active grants include studies on deiminated molecules as pancreatic cancer markers (NCI 2024-2025) and PKD1's role in chemoresistance (AACR since 2008). Collaborates internationally on pancreatic cancer signaling.

Labs: Leads the Tumor Development, Immunology and Progression Laboratory, part of Mayo Clinic's Comprehensive Cancer Center. Specializes in 3D organoid models and patient-derived data validation.