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Rena S. Lapidus, PhD

Academic Title:

Associate Professor

Primary Appointment:

Medicine

Administrative Title:

Assistant Director of the UMGCCC Shared Services

Additional Title:

Director, Translational Laboratory Shared Service

Location:

655 West Baltimore Street

Phone (Primary):

410-706-3715

Fax:

410-706-6105

Education and Training

Bachelor of Arts – Chemistry, Boston University, Boston, MA

Ph.D., University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore MD, Department of Pharmacology

Post-Doctoral Fellowship, The Johns Hopkins Oncology Center

Biosketch

The Translational Laboratory Shared Service (TLSS) at UMGCC plays a critical role in ‘translating’ novel drugs from bench to bedside. We interact with clinicians and pre-clinical investigators to produce preclinical data both in vitro and in vivo in order to generate grants for research or LOIs for clinical trials. In vitro studies include proliferation and cell death assays, IC50 generation, apoptotic assays, Western analysis among others.  In vivo studies include maximum tolerated dose studies, pharmacokinetic studies (dosing of mice/plasma isolation) and cancer efficacy and pharmacodynamic studies.  Specifically, this laboratory has tested novel agents alone and in combination both in vitro and in vivo.   We have developed many novel flank, orthotopic and primary xenografts models to test novel compounds in cancer. Our laboratory is equipped with the tools necessary to generate in vivo oncology data for preclinical investigators. The TLSS also possesses an umbrella Animal Use protocol that is approved for oncology studies with UMBs  IACUC. Overall, the goal is to develop novel compounds that may lead to a Phase I clinical trial.

I am uniquely suited for this position having spent twelve years in industry working on small molecule drug development and 11 years as the Director of the TLSS.   In industry, I worked as the representative ‘biologist’ on many multi-disciplinary project teams being exposed to many of the other ‘disciplines’ including toxicology and pharmacokinetics.  My responsibilities included testing novel anti-cancer compounds in in vitro and in vivo cancer efficacy models as well as doing the ‘in-life’ for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic assays.  The skills that I learned in industry are highly valuable to the researchers at UMGCC.   

Research/Clinical Keywords

Cancer Drug Development, Translational Research, Pre-clinical,In Vivo Studies for Cancer, Support of clinical trials Phase I/II

Highlighted Publications

Muvarak NM, Chowdhury K, Robert C, Choi EY, Xia L, Cai Y, Bellani M, Singh Z, Duong V, Rutherford T, Seidman M, Baer MR, Lapidus RG, Baylin SB, Rassool FV. Effects of PARP inhibitors by DNA demethylating agents – a potential therapy for cancer. Cancer Cell 30(4): 637-650, 2016 

Lapidus RG, Carter-Cooper BA, Sadowska M, Choi E, Wonodi O, Muvarak N, Natarajan K, Pidugu LS, Jaiswal An, Toth EA, Rassool FV, Etemadi A, Sausville EA, Baer MR, Emadi A. Hydroxylated dimeric naphthoquinones increase generation of reactive oxygen species, induce apoptosis of acute myeloid leukemia cells and are not substrates of the multidrug resistance proteins ABCB1 and ABCG2  Pharmaceuticals 9(1): pii: E4 2016 

Kim MS, Gernapudi R, Choi EY, Lapidus RG, Passaniti A. Characterization of CADD522, a small molecule that inhibits RUNX2-DNA binding that exhibits antitumor activity.  Oncotarget 8(41): 70916-70940, 2017.

Emadi A, Law JY, Stovel ET, Lapidus RG, Jeng LJB, Lee M, Blitzer MG, Carter-Cooper BA, Sewell D, Van De Merwe I, Philp S, IMran M, Yu SL, Li H, Amrein PC, Duong VH, Sausville EA, Baer MR, Fathi AT, Singh Z, Bentzen SM. Asparaginase Erwinia Chrysanthemi effectively depletes plasma glutamine in adult patients with relapsed/refractory AML.  Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 81(1): 217-222, 2018.

Li Z, Liao J, Yang Z, Choi EY, Lapdius RG, Cullen KJ, Dan HC. Co-targeting EGFR adn IKK-beta/NF-KB signaling pathways in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a potential novel therapy for head and neck squamous cell cancer.  Br J Cancer 120(3): 306-316, 2018.

Abbotts R, Topper M, Biondi C, Fontaine D, Goswani R, Stojanovic L, Choi EY, McLaughlin L, Kogan AA, Xia R, Lapidus R, Mahmood J, Baylin SB, Rassool FV. DNA methyltransferase inhibitors induce a BRCAness phenotype that senstizes NSCLC to PARP inhibitor and ionizing radiation.  PNAS 116(45): 22609-22618, 2019

McLaughlin LJ, Stojanovic L, Kogan AA, Rugherford JL, Choi EY, Yen RC, Xia L, Zou Y, Lapidus RG, Baylin SB, Topper MJ, Rassool FV. Pharmacologic induction of innate immune signaling drives homologous recombination deficiency.  PNAS 2020 (epub ahead of print)

 

 

Additional Publication Citations

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