Englander Institute for Precision Medicine

September 2023 EIPM Director's Memo

A Monthly memo from EIPM Director Olivier Elemento, Ph.D.

Dear Members of the Englander Institute,

Thank you all so much for another very successful and productive month!

20th International Cancer Genome Consortium Scientific WorkshopI'm thrilled to share that the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine will host the 20th International Cancer Genome Consortium Scientific Workshop from November 7-9. The program is still coming together and we hope to share additional information with you soon. 

The New York Stem Cell Foundation's fall conference will be hosted by The Rockefeller University and feature topics like advanced organoid models, neurodegenerative diseases, stem cell biobanks, autoimmunity, and more. I'll participate in the October 23-24 conference and present "From whole genomes to patient avatars - the future of personalized medicine for cancer patients."

It's always a pleasure to have academic and industry colleagues visit us, explore potential collaborations, tour our labs and meet with our team. This week Dr. Eric K. Oermann (left image, holding headset), Ass't Prof at NYU's Neurosurgery and Radiology departments, delivered an EIPM Seminar Series lecture then took a tour.

And Dr. Erandi De Silva, Co-Founder & Senior VP of Product Development at Forge Biologics, also stopped by for a visit and tour. 

I hope you enjoy reading about our August accomplishments, including new awards, media coverage of our work, upcoming meetings, and impressive publications by a range of our EIPM colleagues--including five new papers by Dr. Lorenzo Galluzzi!

Thank you again for your hard work and dedication to our mission.

Sincerely,

Olivier Elemento, Ph.D.



News Coverage & Awards 
Dr. GalluzziDr. Lorenzo Galluzzi received an R01 grant to dissect the impact of BCL2, an antiapoptotic protein that favors the resistance of cancer cells to death imposed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy, on the immunological configuration of treatment naïve and irradiated breast cancer.

Our Associate Director for Precision Immunology Dr. Laura Santambrogio received a $3.6M grant from the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases for a study entitled “Biochemical and functional characterization of a novel anti-inflammatory biogenic amine.” Dr. Santambrogio was also was elected to the American Association of Immunologists’ Nominating Committee, which is dedicated to identifying and recommending outstanding association members as candidates for election to AAI leadership positions.

Dr. Abdul-RahmanO
ur Director of Clinical Genetics Dr. Omar Abdul-Rahman has joined the board of directors for FASD United, an organization that advocates for individuals and families affected by fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. As a board member, Dr. Abdul-Rahman will help create a path towards progress for people with FASD through leadership, service and accountability.

Dr. Manish Shah was interviewed for the article "Novel Targeted Therapy Combination May Be an Effective First-Line Option for Gastric or Gastroesophageal Junction Adenocarcinoma," which appeared in The ASCO Post regarding new research he published in Nature Medicine (see below). Dr. Shah's research was also covered in the Cure article, "Zolbetuximab Improves Survival in Patients with Stomach Cancer," on August 25th. 

EIPM's Dr. Lisa NewmanEIPM Member Dr. Lisa Newman and Dr. Vivian Bea from the Meyer Cancer Center were profiled in the MCC article "WCM Doctors Journey to Africa to Treat Breast Cancer Patients." Dr. Newman said, "This work is my heart and soul," of her calling to care for breast cancer patients that has led her and her colleagues to travel nearly 5,000 miles to Africa several times a year to see patients and help train and supply local doctors and clinics. Her motivation for starting international breast cancer research in Africa was driven by the disparities observed among African American women in the United States." 

Dr. Scott TagawaDr. Scott T. Tagawa was interviewed for the article, "Dr. Tagawa highlights the evolving treatment paradigm in advanced urothelial carcinoma," which appeared in Urology Times on August 4th. Dr. Tagawa was also interviewed by Urology Times for the article "Dr. Tagawa on the current state of first-line immunotherapy in urothelial carcinoma," that ran on August 7th. 

Dr. Jonathan Zippin was interviewed for the NBC Today Show story "Do gray hair reversal serums or supplements actually work? Dermatologists weigh in," that ran on August 7th. 

I enjoyed speaking with Hematology Advisor for the August 25th article, "AI in Medicine, Synthetic Datasets May Provide a New Tool for Hematologists."

Dr. Akanksha VermaScienceDaily published the article, "Mineralization of bone matrix regulates tumor cell growth," on August 7th, recapping research by Dr. Akanksha Verma, myself, and Cornell University investigators published in Nature Biomedical Engineering (below). 

Dr. Bishoy Faltas was interviewed for the article "Immunotherapy in the Treatment of Localized Genitourinary Cancers," in UroTodayon August 15th about new research he published in JAMA Oncology (below). Dr. Faltas also wrote the UroToday Expert Commentary, "A Comparison of Trimodality Therapy to Radical Cystectomy for Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer," on August 14th. 


Events
Dr. Manish ShahDr. Manish Shah was a guest on Dr. John Leonard's CancerCast podcast, continuing their tradition of discussing the most practice-changing research presented at ASCO. Listen in to this August 1st podcast as they break down what this research means for patients


Dr. AnandasabapathyRegister today for the next Meyer Cancer Center Collaborative Research Initiative mini symposium that will take place on September 7th and feature EIPM speakers including Drs. Niroshana Anandasabapathy, David Rickman, Rohit Chandwani and myself. 

I'll deliver the symposium keynote, "From Whole Genomes to Patient Avatars: The Future of Personalized Medicine for Cancer Patients," at the Uncovering Integrative Approaches for Oncology Drug Development conference hosted by Champions Oncology on September 26th in Boston. 


Publications

Dr. FaltasThe Review "Immunotherapy in the Treatment of Localized Genitourinary Cancers," was published by our Director of Bladder Cancer Research Dr. Bishoy M. Faltas in JAMA Oncology on August 10th

"Circulating Tumor DNA Response and Minimal Residual Disease Assessment in DNA Polymerase Epsilon-Mutated Colorectal Cancer Undergoing Immunotherapy," was published in Cureus by our Director for Liquid Biopsy Research Dr. Pashtoon Kasi and WCM colleagues on August 12th. Dr. Kasi and colleagues also published "Evaluation of Intratumoral Response Heterogeneity in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer and Its Impact on Patient Overall Survival: Findings from 10,551 Patients in the ARCAD Database," in Cancers on August 15th. 

Hiran Ravichandran"Epigenetic memory of coronavirus infection in innate immune cells and their progenitors," was published in Cell by Dr. Steven Z. Josefowicz from the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine department with current and former EIPM colleagues Dr. André F. Rendeiro, Hiranmayi Ravichandran, Junbum Kim, and myself. 

The Nature Cell Death & Disease commentary, "Cancer stem cell immunoediting by IFNγ," was published by Dr. Lorenzo Galluzzi and a colleague from WCM's Department of Radiation Oncology on August 21st. Dr. Galluzzi and colleagues also published "Radiopharmaceuticals as combinatorial partners for immune checkpoint inhibitors," in Trends in Cancer on August 21st. Dr. Galluzzi and colleagues also published "A biologic-device combination product delivering tumor-derived antigens elicits immunogenic cell death-associated immune responses against glioblastoma," in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer," August 29th. Dr. Galluzzi also published the Research Article, "BCL2 inhibition reveals a dendritic cell-specific immune checkpoint that controls tumor immunosurveillance," in Cancer Discovery on August 25th. Finally, Dr. Galluzzi and colleagues also published "Interferon signaling restrains renal cell carcinoma heterogeneity," in Trends in Cancer on August 30th. 

"Zolbetuximab plus CAPOX in CLDN18.2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma: the randomized, phase 3 GLOW trial," was published by Dr. Manish Shah and colleagues in Nature Medicine on Jul 31st.  

Bhavneet Binder"Immunogenomic Landscape of Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer," was published by myself with our former colleague Dr. Misha Beltran, with current and former EIPM colleagues Bhavneet Bhinder, Alison Ferguson, Michael Sigouros, Manik Uppal, Rohan Bareja, Kenneth Wha Eng, Vincenza Conteduca; with Drs. Andrea Sboner and Juan Miguel Mosquera from the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine department and the EIPM, in Clinical Cancer Research on August 1st.

The article "Bone-Matrix mineralization dampens integrin-mediated mechanosignalling and metastatic progression in breast cancer," was published by Dr. Akanksha Verma and myself, with colleagues from Cornell in Ithaca in Nature Biomedical Engineering on August 7th. 

Michael Sigouros"Long-molecule scars of backup DNA repair in BRCA1- and BRCA2-deficient cancers," was published by our former colleague Dr. Marcin Imieliński with EIPM colleagues Michael Sigouros, Jyothi Manohar, Dr. Jones T. Nauseef, myself and Dr. Juan Miguel Mosquera from the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine department and the EIPM in Nature on August 16th. 

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