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Feyruz V. Rassool, PhD

Academic Title:

Professor

Primary Appointment:

Radiation Oncology

Additional Title:

Co-director, Experimental Therapeutics Program, UMGCCC

Email:

frassool@som.umaryland.edu

Location:

BRB, 8-037

Phone (Primary):

(410) 706-5337

Phone (Secondary):

(410) 971-5056

Fax:

(410) 706-6666

Download CV

Education and Training

Education

  • 1979 - A Levels, Camden School for Girls, London, UK
  • 1983 - B.Sc., University College London, London, UK, Honors in Human Genetics
  • 1990 - Ph.D., Royal Post-Graduate Medical School, University of London, London, UK, Biological Sciences

Post-Graduate Education and Training

  • 1990-1994 - Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Section of Hematology/Oncology, University of Chicago

Academic Appointment

  • 1994-1996 - Research Associate, Section of Hematology/Oncology, University of Chicago
  • 1996-1998 - Research Associate - Assistant Professor, Section of Hematology/Oncology, University of Chicago
  • 1998-2005 - Lecturer, King’s College School of Medicine, Guy’s Campus, London, UK
  • 1998-2005 - Head, Genomic Instability Laboratory, King’s College School of Medicine, Guy’s Campus, London, UK
  • 2005-present - Associate Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore
  • 2015-present - Adjunct Associate Professor, VARI’s Center for Epigenetics, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan
  • Co-leader of UMGCCC Experimental Therapeutics Program
  • 2016 - Awarded Tenure, Department of Radiation Oncology, UMSOM
  • 2019 - Full Professor

Biosketch

Feyruz V. Rassool, PhD, received her doctorate at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, University of London, UK. She did her postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago and assumed her first independent faculty position studying DNA damage and repair in myeloid malignancies at King’s College London. She has been at the University of Maryland for the last 18 years.

She is an expert in repair of potentially lethal forms of DNA damage, DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), that play a critical role in generating genomic instability in cancer. Her work has specifically focused on the aberrant expression and activity of these repair pathways in cancer and leukemia cells that not only play a role in genomic instability, but also appear critical for cancer cell survival. These DNA repair components are attractive therapeutic targets. Thus, Dr. Rassool’s work provides a framework for the development and translation of novel therapeutic strategies for patients with breast cancer, ovarian cancer, leukemia and other cancers. Her recent work is focused on targeting DNA repair abnormalities in cancer for therapy and inducing pathogenic mimicry responses in cancer cells treated with epigenetic drugs and poly ADP-ribose polymerase inhibitors (PARPi).

 

As part of this targeted therapy strategy, Dr Rassool received the Ziskin Award to study the intersection between DNA damage and repair and epigenetic pathways in cancer and she is part of the Van Andel Research Institute stand-up to cancer (VAI-SU2C) Epigenetics Dream Team. Dr Rassool and team were awarded an NCI-SPORE, entitled, "Epigenetic Therapy – New Approaches". Her project partners with Dr Miller and Nephew to translate findings to the clinic in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and ovarian cancer (OC).

Her most recent work identifies the mitochondria as the gateway to interferon and inflamasome signaling with PARPi and epigenetic drugs treatment in OC and TNBC. This current work is being prepared for publication.  

 

Research/Clinical Keywords

DNA damage and repair of DNA double strand breaks, genomic instability, targeting DNA repair abnormalities, STING-dependent interferon and inflammasome signaling, Epigenetic reprograming with DNA methyltrasferase inhibitors (DNMTis), induction of BRCAness, transcriptional activation of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), sensitization to poly ADP-ribose polymerase inhibitors (PARPis), Mitochondrial dysfunction.

Highlighted Publications

Tsai HC, Li H, Van Neste L, Cai Y, Robert C, Rassool FV, Shin JJ, Harbom KM, Beaty R, Pappou E, Harris J, Yen RW, Ahuja N, Brock MV, Stearns V, Feller-Kopman D, Yarmus LB, Lin YC, Welm AL, Issa JP, Minn I, Matsui W, Jang YY, Sharkis SJ, Baylin SB, Zahnow CA.  Transient low doses of DNA-demethylating agents exert durable antitumor effects on hematological and epithelial tumor cells. Cancer Cell 2012:21(3):430-46.  doi: 10.1016/j.ccr. 2011.12.029.  PMID:  22439938.

Tobin LA, Robert C, Rapoport AP, Gojo I, Baer MR, Tomkinson AE, Rassool FV.  Targeting abnormal DNA double-strand break repair in tyrosine kinase inhibitor-resistant chronic myeloid leukemias (link).  Oncogene 2013:32(14):1784-93.  doi: 10.1038/onc.2012.203.  PMID:  22641215.

Muvarak N, Kelley S, Robert C, Baer MR, Perrotti D, Gambacorti-Passarini C, Civin C, Scheibner K, Rassool FV. Role of C-MYC in DSB repair in tyrosine kinase activated leukemias. Mol Cancer Res. 2015 Apr;13(4):699-712. doi: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-14-0422. Epub 2015 Mar 31. PMID:25828893.

Muvarak N, Chowdhury K, Xia L, Robert C, YongE, Cai Y, Bellani M, Zou Y, Singh ZN, DuongVH, Rutherford T, Nagaria P, Bentzen SM, Seidman MM, Baer MR, Lapidus RG, BaylinSB, Rassool FV.  Enhancing the Cytotoxic Effects of PARP Inhibitors with DNA Demethylating Agents – A Potential Therapy for Cancer, Cancer Cell. 2016 Oct 10;30(4):637-650. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2016.09.002.PMID: 27728808.

Xia L, Huang W, Bellani M, Seidman MM, Wu K, Fan D, Nie Y, Cai Y, Zhang WY, Yu L-R, Li H Zahnow CA, Xie W, Chiu Yen R-W, Rassool FV*, Baylin SB*.  CHD4 Acts As An Oncogene With A Driver Role for Initiating and Maintaining Epigenetic Suppression of Multiple Tumor Suppressor Genes.  Cancer Cell, 2017 May 8;31(5):653-668.e7. doi: 10.1016/j/ccell.2017.04.005.  PMID: 2848610.

Pulliam n, Fang F, Ozes A, Tang J, Rassool FV, Keer H, Lyons J, Matei D, Nakshatri H, Miller KD and Nephew KP1,2,9*.  An Effective Epigenetic-PARP inhibitor Combination Therapy for Ovrian and Breast Cancers Independent of BRCA-mutations.  Clinical Cancer Res. 2018 Jul 1;24(13):3163-3175. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.  CCR-18-0204.  Epub 2018 Apr 3.  (provided data, interpretation, analysis and participated in writing manuscript).

Kogan AA, Lapidus RG, Baer MR, Rassool FV.  Exploiting epigenetically mediated changes: Acute myeloid leukemia, leukemia stem cells and the bone marrow microenvironment.  Adv Cancer Res. 2019;141:213-253. doi: 10.1016/bs.acr.2018.12.005,  Epub 2019 Jan 21.

Dellomo A, Baer M, Rassool FV.  Role of PARP inhibitors in therapy for FLT3-ITD AML.  Cancer  Lett, 2019 July 10; 454:171-178. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2019.03.048.  Epub 2019 Apr 4.

Abbotts R, Topper MJ, Biondi C, Fontaine D, Goswami R, Stojanovic L, Choi E-Y, McLaughlin L, Xia L, Lapidus R, Mahmood J, Baylin SB, Rassool FV.  DNA methyltransferase inhibitors induce a BRCAness phenotype that sensitizes NSCLC to PARP inhibitor and ionizing radiation.  Proc Natl Acad Sci USA.  2019 Nov 5;116(45):22609-22618,  doi: 10.1073/pnqas.1903765116.  Epub 2019 Oct 7.

Fan L, Xu S, Zhang F, Cui X, Fazli L, Gleave M, Clark DJ, Yang A, Hussain A, Rassool FV, Qi J.  Histone demethylase JMJD1A promotes expression of DNA repair factors and radio-resistance of prostate cancer cells.  Cell Death Dis. 2020 Apr 1;11(4):214.

McLaughlin L1,5,6, Stojanovic L, Shamah A1,5,6,, Choi E-Y2,5, Xia L3, Zou Y4, Baer MR, Lapidus RG2,5, Baylin SB3, Topper M3, Rassool FV1,5*#.  Pharmacologic Induction of Innate Immune Signaling Directly Drives Homologous Recombination Deficiency,.  Proc Natl Acad Sci USA.  2020 Jul 28;117(30):17785-17795. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2003499117. Epub 2020 Jul 10.

Puts G, Jarrett SLeonard M, Matsangos N, Snyder D, Wang Y, Vicent R, Portney B, Abbotts R, McLaughlin L, Zalzman M, Rassool FV, Kaetzel D.   Metastasis Suppressor NME1 Modulates Choice of Double-Strand Break Repair Pathways in Melanoma Cells by Enhancing Alternative NHEJ while Inhibiting NHEJ and r.  Int J Mol Sci, 2020 Aug 17;21(16):5896.

O'Hagan HM1,2 Rassool FV3, Nephew KP1,2.  How Epigenetic Therapy Beats Adverse Genetics in Monosomy Karyotype AML.  Cancer Res, 2021 Feb 15;81(4):813-815.  doi: 10.1158/00008-5472.  CAN-20-4018.  PMID: 33822747.

Baer MR, Kogan AA, Bentzen SM, Mi T, Saum GEA, Lapidus RG, Emadi A, Duong VH, Niyongere S, O’Connell CL, Youngblood BA, Baylin SB and Rassool FV.  Phase I clinical trial of DNA methyltransferase inhibitor decitabine and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor talazoparib combination therapy in adults with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 Apr 1;28(7):1313-1322.

Kogan AA, Topper MJ, Stojanovic L, McLaughlin LJ, Creed TM, Eberly CL, Kingsbury TJ, Baer MR, Kessler MD, Baylin SB, Rassool FV. Activating STING-dependent immune signaling in TP53 mutant and wild-type acute myeloid leukemia. PNAS, July 7, 2022.

Abbotts R, Dellomo AJ, Rassool FV. Pharmacologic induction of BRCAness in BRCA-proficient cancers: expanding PARP inhibitor use. Cancers 2022, 14, 2640.

 

* denotes co-senior author status.

Additional Publication Citations

Rassool FV, Gaymes TJ, Omidvar N, Brady N, Beurlet S, Pla M, Reboul M, Lea N,  Chomienne C, Thomas NS, Mufti GJ, Padua RA.  Reactive oxygen species, DNA damage, and error-prone repair: a model for genomic instability with progression in myeloid leukemia? Ca Res 2007:67(18):8762-71.  PMID:  17875717.

Sallmyr A, Tomkinson AE, Rassool FV.  Up-regulation of WRN and DNA ligase IIIalpha in chronic myeloid leukemia: consequences for the repair of DNA double-strand breaks.  Blood 2008:112(4):1413-23.  doi: 10.1182/blood-2007-07-104257.  PMID: 18524993.

Fan J, Li L, Small D, Rassool F.  Cells expressing FLT3/ITD mutations exhibit elevated repair errors generated through alternative NHEJ pathways: implications for genomic instability and therapy.   Blood 2010:116(24):5298-305.  doi: 10.1182/blood-2010-03-272591.  PMID: 20807885.

Li L, Zhang L, Fan J, Greenberg K, Desiderio S, Rassool FV*, Small D*.  Defective non-homolo-gous end-joining blocks B-cell development in FLT3/ITD mice.  Blood 2011:117(11):3131-9.  doi:10.1182/blood-2010-05-286070.  PMID:  21228325.

Tobin LA, Robert C, Nagaria P, Chumsri S, Twaddell W, Ioffe OB, Greco GE, Brodie AH, Tomkinson AE, Rassool FV.  Targeting abnormal DNA repair in therapy-resistant breast cancers (link) Mol Cancer Res 2012:10(1):96-107.  doi: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-11-0255.  PMID:  22112941.

View all of Dr. Rassool's publications on PubMed.gov

Research Interests

 

Current projects in the laboratory:

Mechanistic studies linking activation STING-dependent interferon/inflammasome signaling with PARPi and DMNTis to induction of DNA repair defects in breast, ovarian lung and AML.

Mechanistic studies linking activation STING-dependent interferon/inflammasome signaling with PARPi and DMNTis to mitochondrial dysfunction in cancer.

Mechanistic studies linking activation STING-dependent interferon/inflammasome signaling with PARPi and DMNTis to suppression of metastatic pathways.

 

Clinical Specialty Details

Our studies combining PARPis with epigenetic drugs have led to two Phase 1 clinical trials: One in AML (Baer et al, Clin Can Res, 2022) and another in TNBC (still ongoing), funded by the VARI-SU2C.

Awards and Affiliations

Dr Rassool received the Ziskin Award in 2012 to study the intersection between DNA damage and repair and epigenetic pathways in cancer and she is part of the SU2C stand-up to cancer Epigenetics Dream Team.

Grants and Contracts

 

 

10/1/19 - 9/30/25
(Co-Inv., Rassool 10%; PI, S. Baylin, JHU) Renewed
“Bringing Epigenetic Therapy to the Management of Ovarian and Other Cancers"
Adelson Med. Res. Foundation:  2002469473
Role: Investiage the role of PARP inhibitors and epienetic drugs in ovarian cancer.

11/01/17 - 9/30/24
(Co-Inv.,Rassool 10%; PI - K. Cullen)
“Use of DNA Demethylating Agents and PARP Inhibitors in Lung Cancer”
Van Andel Research Institute-SU2C, Inc.
Role: Investiage the role of PARP inhibitors and epigenetic drugs in lung cancer, including role in enhanced immune attraction.

08/1/21 - 07/31/26
(Co-Inv., Rassool 8%; PI - K. Cullen)
“The Cancer Center Support Grant 9cssg) provides the resources and infracture to facilitate the coordination of interdisciplinary programs across a broad spectrum of reserch from basic laboratory research to clinical investigation to poplulation science.
NIH/NCI P30 CA134274
Role: Co-leader, Experimental Therapeutics Program

7/01/2019 - 6/31/24
(Co-Inv., Rassool 10%; MPI - S, Baylin) Easwran
“DNA methyl transferase gene expression in colon cancer”
NIEHS (2R01ES011858
Role: Examine the role of DNMT and PARP in DNA damage and repair.

10/1/2019 - 11/30/2022
(Co-Inv., Rassool 10%; PI - Miller IU) 
“A Phase II study of Guadecitabine and Talazoparib in patients with triple negative and hormone resistant metastatic breast cancer”
Pfizer - Clincial trials
Role: Provide correlative studies for Phase 1 clinical

7/1/2021 - 6/30/2025
(Co-Inv., Rassool 3%; PI - M. Baer) 
“A Phase II study of Guadecitabine and Talazoparib in patients with triple negative and hormone resistant metastatic breast cancer”
Veterans Affairs Merit Review Award (1 IO1 BX005120-01)
Annual Direct costs: $165,000 direct/yr

07/01/14 - 06/30/18
(MPI Rassool, Nephew, Miller (10% effort)
“Epigenetic Therapy - New Approaches”
NCI/NIH Epigenetics SPORE
Annual Direct Costs: $171,000

11/01/17 - 9/30/23
(Co-Inv.,Rassool 10%; PI - K. Cullen)
“Use of DNA Demethylating Agents and PARP Inhibitors in Lung Cancer”
Van Andel Research Institute-SU2C, Inc.
Role: Investiage the role of PARP inhibitors and epigenetic drugs in lung cancer, including role in enhanced immune attraction.

11/01/14 - 10/30/17
(Co-Inv., 10%); PI - S. Baylin (JHU)
“Clinical Trials for the Combined Use of DNA Demethylating Agents and PARP Inhibitors in Acute Myelogenous Leukemia”
Van Andel-SU2C, Inc.
Role: To investigate the role of PARP inhibitors and epigenetic drugs in ovarian cancer.

07/01/15 - 02/28/17
(PI, 10%)
“Mechanisms for sensitivity to PARP inhibitors in cancer involving ALT NHEJ”
NIH - R21 5R21CA186974-02

10/1/15 - 9/30/18
(PI, 10%)
“DNA Demethylating Agent and PARP Inhibitor Therapy Targeting Aberrant DNA Repair in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)”
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

11/1/16 - 10/30/17
(Co-Inv., 10%; PI Baer)
“A Phase I/II Multicenter Study Combining Guadecitabine, a DNA Methyltransferase Inhibitor, with Atezolizumab, an Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor, in Patients with Intermediate or High-risk Myelodysplastic Syndrome or Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia.”
Van Andel-SU2C, Inc.
Role: Provide correlative studies for clinical trial.

07/01/17 - 6/30/19
(PI, 10%)
“Mechanisms for sensitivity to HDAC inhibitors involving PARP trapping in leukemias”
NIH - R21

In the News

SP New Treatment Combination Could Work Against Broader Array of Cancer Cells, Study Finds

Date: October 11, 2019
Source: UMSOM
Author: Deborah Kotz

University of Maryland School of Medicine Researchers Find Two Drugs Work Together to Disrupt Cancer Cells’ Ability to Survive
In continuing efforts to find novel ways to kill cancer cells, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have identified a new pathway that leads to the destruction of cancer cells. The new finding, published this week in the journal PNAS, could pave the way for the broader use of a class of anticancer drugs already on the market. These drugs, known as PARP inhibitors, are currently approved by the FDA to treat only a limited group of breast and ovarian cancers associated with BRCA gene mutations.

In a proof of concept study, the researchers demonstrated that combining a PARP inhibitor with a DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitor delivered a one-two punch to non-small cell lung cancer tumors, which are normally not associated with mutations in BRCA genes. The research, conducted in mouse models and cell lines, outlines the mechanistic action of the combination. The DNMT inhibitor triggers an effect that mimics a BRCA mutation in the cancer cell so the cell responds to the lethal effects of the PARP inhibitor, which prevents repair of damage to a tumor cell’s DNA, triggering cell death...

Full Story

New Drug Combination Targets Aggressive Blood Cancer

Date: March 7, 2017
Source: Van Andel Research Institute
Published by: ScienceDaily

A pair of drugs that may be a one-two punch needed to help combat acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an aggressive blood cancer that kills nearly three-fourths of patients within five years of diagnosis, is the focus of a new multi-center clinical trial that will enroll patients at three sites across the U.S.

The trial pairs an investigational PARP inhibitor, talazoparib, with the DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitor decitabine, which is already approved for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a disease that often precedes AML. Preclinical studies show that combining the drugs may maximize their ability to kill cancer cells.

“Long-term survival with AML is quite poor and, unfortunately, our arsenal for treating it has remained largely unchanged for decades,” said Feyruz Rassool, Ph.D., an associate professor of radiation oncology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, a researcher at the Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a member of the Van Andel Research Institute–Stand Up To Cancer (VARI–SU2C) Epigenetics Dream Team. “Combination therapies, such as talazoparib and decitabine together, allow us to attack cancer from multiple angles at the most basic level for a greater potential effect.”

Full Story

Professional Activity

Institutional Service – University of Maryland School of Medicine

  • 2006-2011: Reviewer, American Cancer Society (ACS) Institutional Review Grant (IRG), Pilot Project Grants at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center (served 1x annually)
  • 2007-present: Member, Cancer Biology Curriculum Committee
  • 2008-2013: Organizer, Free Radical Interest Group (FRIG) monthly seminars (year round) 
  • 2009-present: Member, Graduate Program in Life Science (GPLS) Curriculum Committee 
  • 2009-present: Member, Master’s Curriculum Committee
  • 2009-2011: Member, School of Medicine Council
  • 2011-2012: Interim Director, Radiobiology Department
  • 2011-present: Member, T32 Cancer Biology Steering Committee 
  • 2012-present: Member, Master’s Program in Translational Research, Core Course
  • 2013-present: Member, Translation Laboratory Sciences Advisory Committee
  • 2013-present: Reviewer, T32 Grants (1x annually) 
  • 2013: Reviewer, Seed Grant Program UMB and UMCP (served 1x)
  • 2014: Reviewer, Dean’s Challenge Grant (served 1x)
  • 2015: Reviewer, Graduate Application for Graduate Program in Toxicology (serve 1x)
  • 2015: Reviewer, Graduate Application for Graduate Program in Biochemistry (serve 1x)
  • 2015-present: Member, Funding Submission Peer Review Committee, Radiation Oncology

Local Service

  • 2005: Moderator, Chromosomes and Cancer:  From Translocations to Targeted Therapies, University of Chicago (served 1x) 
  • 2006: Chair Person, Baltimore Area Repair Symposium (BARS) – raised $15,000 (served 1x)
  • 2008: Moderator, Myelodysplastic Syndromes: Pre-clinical and Translational Science, Baltimore Area Repair Symposium (BARS) (served 1x)
  • 2008: Chair, DNA Damage and Repair Session, American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) Meeting (served 1x)
  • 2011: Moderator, Clinical Translation of Epigenetic in Cancer Therapy, San Diego, CA (served 1x)
  • 2011-present: Reviewer, Nathan Schnaper Summer Intern Program candidates (1x annually)
  • 2012: Co-Organizer and Moderator, 5th Annual Maryland Stem Cell Research Symposium, Annapolis, MD (served 1x)
  • 2012: Speaker, Stem Cell Center Fund Raiser, Black Olive Inn, Maryland (served 1x)
  • 2013: Moderator, Radiation Oncology Review Course, University of Maryland (served 1x)
  • 2014: Coordinator, American Society of Hematology (ASH) Abstract Review, Category 601: Chromosomal Rearrangements and DNA Repair, San Francisco (served 1x) 
  • 2014: Moderator, Category 601: Chromosomal Rearrangements and DNA Repair.  American Society of Hematology (ASH), San Francisco (served 1x) 
  • 2015: Chair, Minisymposia “Cancer Epigenetics”, American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA (serve 1x)
  • 2016: Chair: Special lecture, 18th Annual John Goldman Conference on Chronic Myeloid Leukemia:  Biology and Therapy, Houston Texas.
  • 2017: Chair: DNA Repair Session, AACR New Frontiers in Cancer Research, Cape Town South Africa January 2017. 

National/International Service

Committees 

  • 2016: Program Committee for the AACR New Frontiers in Cancer Research conference taking place January 18-22, 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa.
  • 2016: AACR Regional Advisory Subcommittee on Africa.
  • 2017: AACR-AstraZeneca Fellowship in Ovarian Cancer Research Committee

Lab Techniques and Equipment

Lab Techniques:

  • DNA damage and repair assays
  • Cell survival assays
  • Clonogenic assays
  • Immunocytochemistry
  • Molecular biology
  • PCR
  • Western blotting
  • RNAseq
  • Mouse xenograft studies in collaboration with Translational Core Facility UMGCCC (TLSS)
  • Immunoprecipitation
  • Immune-competent mouse studies in collaboration with TLSS and immunologist Dr. Webb
  • Bioinformatics cancer database analysis

Lab Equipment:

Tissue culture and cell storage:  Four C02 incubators, three tissue culture hoods, two 40C refrigerators and two -200C freezers, Coulter cell counter (Z2), liquid nitrogen storage tank; Western blotting analysis: Gel electropheresis equipment (Biorad), including, power supplies (Biorad), Quantitative: End-point PCR machines, real-time PCR machines (Eppendorf), PCR hood, pipettes for PCR; DNA repair assays: bacterial incubator, fume hood, two gel imaging systems, nucleofector (Amaxa); General laboratory equipment: water baths, thermomixers and heat blocks, vortex apparatus, stir plates, hybridization chamber, 40C fridges, two -200C and two -800C freezers, pipetors, six microfuges centrifuges (at 40C and room temperature), three tabletop centrifuges, orbital shakers and rotators (for room temp and cold room reactions), macro- and microbalances, UV-visible spectrophotometer (Nanodrop and Nanovue), dissection, standard, and phase contrast microscopes, a Nikon micropht microscope with Nomarski optics, MJ thermal controller for PCR, fully automated HPLC, ELISA plate reader, cytospin centrifuge for immunofluorescence analysis of suspension cells, sample diluter/dispensers for RIA. Clonogenic Assays: A Synbiosis ProtoCOL3 colony counter. Shared departmental equipment includes standard and ultracentrifuges, a gamma-counter, liquid scintillation counter, microtome, spectrophotometer, cryostat, protein and nucleic acid electrophoresis and blotting system.

Other Shared Equipment:

The Radiation Oncology Research Laboratory is equipped with common equipment necessary for research including a Beckman Optima L-90k ultracentrifuge, a Beckman Avanti J-20XP centrifuge, a Beckman LS-6500 liquid scintillation counter, four large bacterial shakers, incubators for bacterial growth, Sonifier 250 (for ChIP studies), an Alpha-Innotech digital gel acquisition system, phosphoimager, 1 inverted fluorescent microscope, 1 standard Zeiss microscope, and a Zeiss and Nikon phase/brightfield/fluorescence microscope with an MC100 35mm camera, and a CCD digital camera, an X-ray machine, dark room with film processor, and a conference room are on site.  In addition, there is joint use equipment located at the University of Maryland, Baltimore including a fluoroimager, dishwashing facilities, electron microscopy, confocal imaging center, mass spectroscopy, flowcytometry, the Center for Fluorescence Spectroscopy, Biopolymer Core Facility for sequencing and DNA Synthesis, and the MCB Freezer Program, an on-site biological reagent storehouse. Machine and electronic shops are available on a time/materials basis.

 

Post-Graduates

2005-2006   Dan Grosu, M.d., Topic:  DNA Repair in Myeloid Leukemia

2005-2008   Annahita Sallmyr, Ph.D, Topic:  DNA Repair in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

2007 - 2011  Jinshui Fan, Ph.D., Topic:  DNA Repair in FLT3/ITD Leukemias/Stem Cells

2008 - 2014   Carine Robert, Ph.D., Topic:  Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors in Myeloid Leukemias

2011 - 2018   Pratik Nagaria, Ph.D., Topic:  Histone Deacetylase Inhibiors in myeloid Leukemias

2017 - present Rachel Abbotts, MBBCHS/Ph.D., Topic:  PARP and DNMT Inhibitors in Lung Cancer

2022-present - Kaushlendra Tripathi, Ph.D. PARP and DNMT Inhibitors attenuation of metastasis in TNBC and OC.

Mentoring Junior Faculty

2020 - present   Rachel Abbotts, MD, PhD, Research Associate

2019 - present    Sandrine Dyongere, MD, Clinical Research

Ph.D Students

2011 - 2015         Khadiza Chowdhury, B.S., Topic:  DNA Repair in Breast Cancer

2014 - 2017         Novel mechanisms of therapies targeting poly ADP ribose polymerase and its role in an alternative form of non-homologous end-joining DNA double strand                             break repair pathway in acute myeloid leukemia.

2015 - 2020         Lena McLaughlin, B.S., Topic:  Inducing DNA Repair Deficiencies in Triple Negative Breast Cancers through Pharmacologic Stimulation of Innate Immune                                 signaling.

2016 - present      Aksinijah Kogan, B.S., Topic:  DNMTis sensitize acute myeloid leukemia cells to PARP inhibitors via immune modulation dependent promotion of                                             homologous recombination deficiency.

2017 - present       Anna Delomo, B.S., Topic:  PARP inhibitor Resensitization of FLT3/ITD AML to TKls  

2019 - present       Lora Stojanovic, Topic:  Role of ROS in Pharmacologic Induction of Immune Signaling and Homologous Recombination Deficiency in ovarian cancer.

2019 - 2022      Julia Rutherford, Topic:  Pharmacologic Induction of Innate Immune Signaling Suppresses Metastasis in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

 

Links of Interest

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