Dr. Peruzzi is an Associate Professor of Medicine (with Tenure) at the LSUHSC-NO Cancer Center. She has over 60 publications and more than 15 years of experience in molecular biology and signal transduction pathways. Dr. Peruzzi participates in COBRE as a mid-career scientist who is transitioning from neurodegenerative disease research to cancer.
Hypothesis: Specific Epigenetic marks and specific metabolic features found in HIV-derived monocytes prime these immune cells to hyper-responsiveness following secondary insults, leading to increased cytokine production and immunomodulation in the tumor microenvironment. This overall hypothesis will be tested the following specific aims: Aim 1: Determine the mechanism of dysfunctional expression of miR-146a-5p and miR-155-5p in HIV-derived cells; Aim 2: Determine the role of energy metabolism in the trained immunity and evaluate if pharmacological interventions (rapamycin and BGP) can reverse high mitochondrial respiration and hyper-responsiveness of HIV-derived monocytes; Aim 3: Investigate the effects of HIV-derived macrophages on T-cell function and cancer cell growth and survival using in vitro modeling of tumor microenvironment.

Research Project 6, PI: Paul Rider, Ph.D., “Effect of oncolytic virotherapy on the tumor microenvironment”

Dr. Rider is an Assistant Professor at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, Baton Rouge. He has over 20 publications and more than 5 years of experience studying virology and cloning techniques. Dr. Rider participates in this COBRE following successful development of his pilot study in 2019.
Hypothesis: A major mechanism of efficacy is the ability of oncolytic viruses (VC2) to reverse immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment, and the Aims are: 1) Test the hypothesis that herpesvirus-derived oncolytic vaccines alter the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment of B16F10 tumors; 2) Investigate the anti-tumor specific T-cell responses during oncolytic virotherapy as well as the potential of inducing systemic antitumor responses via immunization with VC2 expressing selected melanoma antigens; and 3) Investigate the role of prior immunity to HSV-1 on the oncolytic and anti-tumor efficacy of VC2 intratumoral immunization.

Research Project 7, PI: Monika Rak, Ph.D., “Human Endogenous Retroviral Sequences (HERVs) in the development and progression of human glioblastoma”

Dr. Rak is an Assistant Professor at LSUHSC-NO Cancer Center. Graduated her Ph.D. program at the Jagiellonian University Cracow, Poland in 2014. She has completed multiple international internships focused on different aspects of cancer therapies including: demethylating agents in bladder cancer treatment (Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, 2015-2016, 8 months); targeted gene and drug delivery systems (Nagasaki University, Japan, 2019, 4 months); and the role of HERVs in glioblastoma stemness (Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, Louisiana State University, New Orleans, LA, 2018-2019, 10 months). She is an author of 13 publications, 3 patents and 1 pending patent application.
Hypothesis: Aberrant expression of HERVs found in glioblastoma clinical samples contributes to the enhanced glioblastoma stem-like phenotype and associated drug resistance. The hypothesis is being tested by the following experimental strategies: Aim 1: Determine HERV transcript levels in glial tumors and analyze if high HERV transcription correlates with: a) specific glioblastoma subtypes, and b) glioblastoma stem-specific transcription patterns; Aim 2: Effects of inducible Crisp/Cas-mediated upregulation and downregulation of HERV transcripts on the development of stem-like phenotype and malignant growth of low-grade gliomas (LGG) and glioblastomas (GBM), respectively.

Pilot Project 8, Lin, Hui-Yi, Ph.D., “Antioxidants Associated with Oncogenic HPV Infection and Cervical Pre-cancerous Lesions”

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