Monika Burness, MD

I am a medical oncologist specializing in breast oncology at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center. My clinical areas of practice are breast cancer and fertility preservation for cancer patients. I see patients at the Michigan Medicine Breast Care Center. More details regarding my clinical practice can be found here: Breast Cancer - Michigan Medicine

My research interest is in breast cancer stem cell biology. As a physician-scientist, I am driven by the challenges I encounter when treating patients in the clinic. My particular interest is in identifying new strategies to target cancer stem cells in order to improve current therapies. We are currently studying the DNA repair ability of cancer stem cells in triple-negative breast cancer. This work is designed to lead to the translation of novel therapeutic combinations into clinical use in breast cancer.       

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications:

Sharma D, Hager CG, Shang L, Tran L, Zhu Y, Ma A, Magnuson B, Lesko MW, Wicha MS, Burness ML. The BET degrader ZBC260 suppresses stemness and tumorigenesis and promotes differentiation in triple-negative breast cancer by disrupting inflammatory signaling. Breast Cancer Res. 2023 Nov 15;25(1):144. doi: 10.1186/s13058-023-01715-3. PMID: 37968653; PMCID: PMC10648675.

Liu B*, Burness ML*, Martin-Trevino R, Guy J, Bai S, et al. RAD51 mediates resistance of cancer stem cells to PARP inhibition in triple-negative breast cancer. Clinical Cancer Research. Accepted for publication. *these authors contributed equally

Price T, Burness M, Sivan A, Warner M, Cheng R, Lee C, et al. Dormant breast cancer micrometastases reside in specific bone marrow niches that regulate their transit to and from bone. Science Translational Medicine, 2016 May 25; 8(340): 340ra73. PMID: 27225183. No Federal support cited.

Brooks MD*, Burness ML*, Wicha MS. Therapeutic implications of cellular heterogeneity and plasticity in breast cancer. Cell Stem Cell. 2015 Sept:17(3):260-271. PubMed PMICD: PMC4560840 *these authors contributed equally

Varghese S, Burness M, Xu H, Beresnev T, Pingpank J, et al. Site-specific gene expression profiles and novel molecular prognostic factors in patients with lower gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma diffusely metastatic to liver or peritoneum. Annals of Surgical Oncology. 2007 Dec;14(12):3460-71. PubMed PMID: 17899288. No Federal support cited.