Krzysztof Reiss, PhD
kreiss@lsuhsc.edu
Professor
Dr. Reiss’ lab conducts productive and internationally recognized research in the areas of cell signaling, energy metabolism, DNA repair, and viral oncogenes. Their most recent focus is on developing advanced models of brain tumor progression for evaluating different anti-cancer regiments in a preclinical setting. The key contribution to this area of research is the finding that a common lipid-lowering prodrug, fenofibrate (FF), can accumulate in mitochondrial membranes causing a severe inhibition of mitochondrial respiration at the level of Complex I of the electron transport chain (ETC) followed by extensive glioblastoma cell death. Based on these data, the team has made multiple chemical modifications to the FF structure and developed over 300 new anticancer drug candidates, which are currently tested in our lab using monolayer and 3-D cell culture glioblastoma models, as well as syngeneic and patient-derived intracranial models of glioblastoma.
Dr. Reiss’ research has been continuously funded for more than 20 years with multiple R01, P01, P20, and Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation grants. He has published more than 170 peer-reviewed research articles and book chapters focused on viral oncology, IGF-1 receptor signaling, DNA repair, drug development and tumor cell energy metabolism. In addition, he is a member of national and international scientific groups and has participated as the reviewer for numerous NIH study sections and other granting institutions.
Lab Manager: Annamarie Macaluso, Ms
Lab Team: Annamarie Macaluso, Ms; Annalise Tramuta, Bs; Antonina Fichert (student worker); Clinton Morrison (student worker), and Patricia Mensah (prospective PhD student)