I am a veterinary clinical pathologist at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University . As a clinical pathologist, I examine cytologic and hematologic smears from veterinary patients, direct the operation of the clinical pathology laboratory at the veterinary school, and participate in teaching veterinary students and residents. As a veterinarian, I perform applied research, where I am focusing on the role of tissue factor (tissue thromboplastin or coagulation factor III) as an initiator of thrombosis in various disorders of companion animals. My second research interest involves mechanisms of cancer metastasis, in which I am collaborating with Dr. Michael Shuler of the Departments of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering to construct a microdevice to explore how cancer cells interact with the endothelium of target organs to form secondary metastatic growths. This seminar will concentrate on cancer metastases and the development of this device.

Metastasis is a leading cause of death in patients with malignant tumors.  Metastasis is a progressive multistep process, involving evolution of an invasive clone, cellular invasion through the extracellular matrix into the vasculature, survival within the circulation, subsequent arrest at distant sites, and either intravascular growth or transendothelial migration with subsequent extravascular growth to form a secondary tumor growth. The sites to which tumors metastasize are not random nor predicted by vascular drainage patterns from the primary tumor. It is likely that this organ-specific nature of metastasis is due to a combination of factors, i.e. initial mechanical slowing or arrest of circulating tumor cells, followed by adhesive and transmigratory events mediated by site-specific adhesion molecules and promoted by tissue-specific chemokines and growth factors. Although we now know much about the early stages of metastasis, e.g. genetic alterations favoring growth of an invasive clone, the mechanisms underlying tumor cell adhesion and transmigration at sites of vascular arrest are still poorly understood. My long term goal is to explore mechanisms of tumor-endothelial cell interactions that affect metastasis in the hope of understanding its organ-specific nature and for identifying potential molecular targets for therapeutic intervention.

Tracy Stokol received her B.V.Sc. (Bachelor of Veterinary Science) degree from the University of Melbourne ( Melbourne , Australia ) and her PhD degree in Clinical Pathology from the University of Melbourne ( Melbourne , Australia ).  Her PhD dissertation was “von Willebrand Disease in Dobermanns and Scottish Terriers in Australia ”. After completion of her PhD, Tracy traveled stateside and became an instructor, then an Assistant Professor, in Veterinary Clinical Pathology at the College of Veterinary Medicine , Cornell University . She became board-certified by examination in Veterinary Clinical Pathology in 1995. Tracy then went to the Department of Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard University for a post-doctoral fellowship, exploring mechanisms of immune-complex mediated inflammation in mice. She returned as an Assistant Professor in Veterinary Clinical Pathology to the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine , Cornell University . Her research focus is on hemostatic disorders in animals and mechanisms of cancer metastasis.