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The current interest of our team is to elucidate the links between cellular pathways of response to stress – including (but not limited to) autophagy, cellular senescence and multiple variants of regulated cell death – and the preservation of organismal homeostasis, with a particular focus on anticancer immunity. More specifically, we are interested in dissecting the complexity of the tumor microenvironment with respect to the mechanisms through which malignant as well as non-malignant components of the tumor exposed to chemotherapy, radiation therapy and immunotherapy emit danger signals that are involved in the initiation and perpetuation of robust immune responses. The detailed characterization of these molecular and cellular circuitries may identify stress-responsive mechanisms of adaptation in malignant or non-malignant cells as novel targets for the pharmacological manipulation of anticancer immune responses. Ultimately, these findings may translate into novel clinical studies based on combinatorial therapeutic regimens aimed at maximizing immunostimulation within the tumor microenvironment.
Lorenzo Galluzzi, PhD
Principal Investigator
Lorenzo Galluzzi (born 1980) is currently Assistant Professor of Cell Biology in Radiation Oncology with the Department of Radiation Oncology of the Weill Cornell Medical College (New York, NY, USA), Honorary Assistant Professor Adjunct with the Department of Dermatology of the Yale School of Medicine (New Haven, CT, USA), Honorary Associate Professor with the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Paris (Paris, France), and Faculty Member with the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Biotechnology of the University of Ferrara (Ferrara, Italy), the Graduate School of Pharmacological Sciences of the University of Padova (Padova, Italy), and the Graduate School of Network Oncology and Precision Medicine of the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Rome, Italy).
Prior to joining Weill Cornell Medical College (2017), Lorenzo Galluzzi was a Junior Scientist of the Research Team “Apoptosis, Cancer and Immunity” at the Cordeliers Research Center (Paris, France; 2012-2016). Lorenzo Galluzzi did his post-doctoral training at the Gustave Roussy Comprehensive Cancer Center (Villejuif, France; 2009-2011), after receiving his PhD from the University Paris Sud (Le Kremlin-Bicetre, France; 2005-2008). He is also Associate Director of the European Academy for Tumor Immunology (EATI), and Founding Member of the European Research Institute for Integrated Cellular Pathology (ERI-ICP).
Lorenzo Galluzzi is best known for major experimental and conceptual contributions to the fields of cell death, autophagy, tumor metabolism and tumor immunology. In particular, he provided profound insights into the links between adaptive stress responses in cancer cells and the activation of a clinically relevant tumor-targeting immune response in the context of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Lorenzo Galluzzi has published more than 480 scientific articles in international peer-reviewed journals. According to a survey published by Lab Times, he was the 6th and the youngest of the 30 most-cited European cell biologists (for the period 2007–2013), and he has been nominated Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics (formerly, Thomson Reuter) in 2016 (Biology & Biochemistry), 2018 (Cross-Fields), 2019 (Immunology and Molecular Biology & Genetics) and 2020 (Immunology and Molecular Biology & Genetics).
Lorenzo Galluzzi currently operates as Editor-in-Chief of four journals: OncoImmunology (which he co-founded in 2011), International Review of Cell and Molecular Biology, Methods in Cell Biology, and Molecular and Cellular Oncology (which he co-founded in 2013). In addition, Lorenzo Galluzzi currently serves as Founding Editor for Microbial Cell and Cell Stress, Associate Editor for Cell Death and Disease and Aging, Section Editor for Cells, and Guest Editor for Methods in Enzymology.
Takahiro Yamakazi, PhD
Post-Doctoral Associate
Takahiro Yamazaki obtained his PhD in Biomolecular Science (Molecular Immunology) at Toho University, Japan. In 2009, he joined the laboratory of Dr. Kazunori Aoki at National Cancer Center in Japan and worked on Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD). From 2010, he joined the laboratory of Dr. Laurence Zitvogel at Institute Gustave Roussy, France, and worked on the role of Immunogenic Cell Death (ICD) and gut microbiota in cancer treatment. During this period he published many articles (Sci Transl Med. 2012, Immunity 2013, Science 2014, Nat Med. 2014, Cell Death Differ. 2014, Science 2015, Immunity 2016, Cell Death Differ. 2016, Cancer Res. 2017, Nat Commun. 2019, Cell Res. 2019 and more). Since 2017, he’s in laboratory of Dr. Lorenzo Galluzzi and working on "Mitochondrial DNA drives abscopal responses to radiation that are inhibited by autophagy", and his work has been accepted by Nature Immunology (2020).
Aitziber Buqué Martinez, PhD
Post-Doctoral Associate
After obtaining my degree in Biochemistry in the University of the Basque Country (Leioa, Spain), I moved to Madrid to complete a master in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology in the Universidad Complutense. I completed it with a final project in the Centre of Studies and Technical Research (San Sebastian, Spain) where I collaborate in the validation of a software for microarray analysis.
Then, I decided to start my PhD at BioCruces Research Institute, located in Cruces University Hospital (Bizkaia, Spain) under the direction of the head of Medical Oncology Department, Dr. Guillermo Lopez Vivanco. Thanks to the Basque Government I had a short-term international fellowship that allow me to spend 3 months at the Institut de génétique moléculaire de Montpellier (IGMM) under the supervision of Prof. Martin Villalba. I obtained my thesis entitled “Multitarget antifolate (MPA) on human melanoma cell lines: cell death and mechanisms of resistance” and obtained Cum Laude and International mention.
During the last few years, I developed a strong interest and personal commitment into elucidating the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the role of immune system in the oncogenesis and responses to treatment of breast cancer. My previous post-doctoral fellowship (La Ligue Contre le Cancer) in the Cordeliers Research Center and Gustave Roussy Institute (Paris, France) was under the direction of Dr. Guido Kroemer and it was entirely focused on this problem.
As part of Dr. Galluzzi lab, I plan to pursue this line of investigation in the fields of breast cancer, radiation therapy and immunotherapy.
Norma Bloy, PhD
Post-Doctoral Associate
Norma received her master’s degree in Health Biology from Paris Saclay. In 2013, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Guido Kroemer at the Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers (Paris, France) and at Gustave Roussy (Villejuif, France), the largest center for oncological patients in Europe. She worked on several projects linked to immunosurveillance, culminating with her obtaining her PhD in 2017 with an original work on “Immunogenic stress and death of cancer cells: Contribution of antigenicity vs adjuvanticity to immunosurveillance”. Norma is now a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Weill Cornell Medical College (New York) in Dr. Lorenzo Galluzzi’s group, where she works on PD-1 resistance, in a breast cancer model.
Giulia Petroni, PhD
Post-Doctoral Associate
Giulia obtained her B.Sc (Cellular and Molecular Biology, 2010) and Ph.D (Clinical Science, 2014) from the University of Florence, Italy. She continued her postdoctoral studies in General Pathology at the same University. Her PhD and postdoctoral trainings have always been focused on therapy resistance, first studying immunogenicity of monoclonal antibodies and then investigating strategies aiming to overcome resistance to conventional treatment. She joined the laboratory of Dr. Lorenzo Galluzzi as Visiting Scientist in April 2019, while she had the opportunity to learn innovative methodologies related to the generation and management of immunocompetent HR+ breast cancer models. During these 6 months, she was supported by the “Postdoctoral Fellowship 2019” funded by Fondazione Umberto Veronesi. Giulia is now a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Galluzzi’s group. His current research is focused on investigating resistance to cell cycle inhibitors and anti-tumor immune response following treatment with cell cycle inhibitors and radiation therapy in HR+ breast cancer.
Ai Sato
Research Specialist
Ai is from Japan. She learned biochemistry, molecular biology and developmental biology in University. She worked in RIKEN Brain Science Institute for four years doing research in developmental neuroscience, and then at National Cancer Center Research Institute for nine and a half years working with colon and ovarian cancer stem cells. She moved to the US and joined the Department of Radiation Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine in July 2018.
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