Erik R. Nelson

About

Erik R. Nelson, Ph.D., is a professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology at the University of Illinois, with additional professorships in Animal Sciences and Nutritional Sciences. He is also affiliated with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, where he contributes to the Personalized Nutrition Initiative and the Anticancer Discovery from Pets to People research theme. Dr. Nelson serves as a Program Leader at the Cancer Center at Illinois and is recognized as the Keith W. and Sara M. Kelley Professor. His academic background includes a B.Sc. in Zoology and a Ph.D. in Comparative Endocrinology from the University of Calgary, followed by postdoctoral training at Duke University School of Medicine. Dr. Nelson's research focuses on the endocrine and metabolic control of breast and ovarian cancer pathophysiology, aiming to understand how the endocrine system and metabolism influence cancer initiation and progression. His lab integrates expertise in physiology, endocrinology, immunology, and in vivo models to pursue translational research. A significant aspect of his work involves studying cholesterol metabolism and its critical roles in tumors and tumor-infiltrating immune cells. His research goals include using cholesterol biology to reprogram tumor-associated immune cells, defining mechanisms by which cholesterol metabolites impact tumor progression and metastasis, investigating nuclear receptor…

Research topics

• Internal medicine
• Cancer research
• Medicine
• Biochemistry
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Immunology
• Oncology
• Endocrinology
• Optics

Selected publications

• Myocardial infarction accelerates breast cancer via innate immune reprogramming

  Nature Medicine · 2020 · 274 citations

  DOI

• 27-Hydroxycholesterol acts on myeloid immune cells to induce T cell dysfunction, promoting breast cancer progression

  Cancer Letters · 2020 · 96 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  DOI

• Dextran-Mimetic Quantum Dots for Multimodal Macrophage Imaging <i>In Vivo, Ex Vivo</i>, and <i>In Situ</i>

  ACS Nano · 2022 · 42 citations

  targeting specificity. However, dextran-mimetic QDs provided enhanced signal-to-noise ratio for improved optical quantification, long-term photostability, and resistance to chemical fixation. In addition, the vascular circulation time for the QD-based probes was extended 9-fold compared with dextran, likely due to differences in conformational flexibility. The enhanced photophysical and photochemical properties of dextran-mimetic QDs may accelerate applications in macrophage targeting, tracking,…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Cholesterol Metabolite 27HC Increases Secretion of Extracellular Vesicles Which Promote Breast Cancer Progression

  Endocrinology · 2021 · 42 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Cholesterol has been implicated in the clinical progression of breast cancer, a disease that continues to be the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. Previous work has identified the cholesterol metabolite 27-hydroxycholesterol (27HC) as a major mediator of the effects of cholesterol on breast tumor growth and progression. 27HC can act as an estrogen receptor (ER) modulator to promote the growth of ERα+ tumors, and as a liver X receptor (LXR) ligand in myeloid immune cells to establish an im…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A small-molecule activator of the unfolded protein response eradicates human breast tumors in mice

  Science Translational Medicine · 2021 · 35 citations

  Metastatic estrogen receptor α (ERα)-positive breast cancer is presently incurable. Seeking to target these drug-resistant cancers, we report the discovery of a compound, called ErSO, that activates the anticipatory unfolded protein response (a-UPR) and induces rapid and selective necrosis of ERα-positive breast cancer cell lines in vitro. We then tested ErSO in vivo in several preclinical orthotopic and metastasis mouse models carrying different xenografts of human breast cancer lines or patien…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Impact of cholesterol and its metabolites on breast cancer progression

  NIH · $1.7M · 2019–2024

• NIH Grant K99CA172357

  NIH · $190k · 2014

• NIH Grant R00CA172357

  NIH · $727k · 2017

Frequent coauthors

• Donald P. McDonnell

  Duke University

  102 shared

• David J. Shapiro

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  67 shared

• Paul J. Hergenrother

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  59 shared

• Darjan Duraki

  McMaster University

  57 shared

• Ben Ho Park

  53 shared

• Matthew W. Boudreau

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  52 shared

• Chengjian Mao

  50 shared

• Liqian Ma

  Nanjing Tech University

  47 shared

Labs

• Nelson LabPI

Education

• Ph.D. Comparative Endocrinology, Biological Sciences

  University of Calgary

  2008

• B.Sc., Biological Sciences

  University of Calgary

  2002

Awards & honors

• Dean’s Distinguished Professorial Scholar (2025-2026)
• Richard E. Weitzman Outstanding Early Career Investigator La…
• List of Researchers to Know by the Illinois Science & Techno…
• Emerging Research Leader, University of Illinois (2023)
• James E. and Maxine S. Heath Award for Excellence in Teachin…

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