SITC Sparkathon Class of 2024

SITC Sparkathon
Class of 2024

The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) is pleased to recognize the SITC Sparkathon Class of 2024 featuring 15 emerging leaders in the field of cancer immunotherapy, with a focus on metabolism in tumor immunity.

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The SITC Sparkathon program brings together investigators early in their careers with various backgrounds, degrees and professional experiences to collaboratively address obstacles the field of cancer immunotherapy faces. The Sparkathon Class of 2024 kicked off with an in-person retreat from March. 12-14, 2024. Participants and faculty will also convene at a one-day symposium on Nov. 5, 2024 for additional education, and to continue work on program outputs, just before SITC's 39th Annual Meeting and Pre-Conference Programs.

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SITC Sparkathon Class of 2024

Meriem Belabed, PhD
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr.MeriemBelabed is animmunology researcher specializing in cancer immunology, immunotherapy, immunometabolism, cellular, and molecular biology. 

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She obtained her first M.Sc. degree in molecular and cellular biology from Blidauniversity in Algeria in 2014. Buildingonthis foundation, she earned a second M.Sc. in immunology and immunopathology from Pierre and Marie Curieuniversity in France in 2016, to expand her expertise in the field. 

In 2019, Dr. Belabed culminated her academic journey with a Ph.D. in immunology from Paris Descartesuniversity. Her doctoral research focusedon unraveling the intricate role of the molecular motor Kinesin-1 in antigen presentation by dendritic cells.Herwork contributes not only to the expanding understanding of cellular dynamics but also underscores the potential translational impact of targeting kinesin-1 in therapeutic strategies aimed to reinforce immune responses against tumors. 

Currently serving as a postdoctoral fellow at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Dr. Belabed has joined the team led by Dr. Miriam Merad. Her current research thrust centers on deciphering the regulation of dendritic cells associatedtotumors. With a primary objective of designing enhanced clinical immunotherapy approaches, Dr. Belabed is dedicated to unraveling the complexities of dendritic cell biology and leveraging this knowledge for therapeutic advancements in the field of cancer immunology. 

 Beyond her research endeavors, Dr. Belabed is actively engaged in teaching,andcommitmentedto knowledge dissemination. She is devoted to finding innovative and impactful ways to share her expertise in immunology, particularlywiththose for whom it is not easily available.

Alexandra Dreyzin, MD
National Institute of Health

Alexandra Dreyzin is a pediatric oncologist and Research Assistant Professor at Children’s National Hospital. She is interested in cell therapy for hematologic malignancies. Her research, which is conducted in collaboration with the Center for Cell Engineering and Pediatric Oncology Branch of the NIH, focuses on how manufacturing strategies can be used to optimize CAR T-cell therapy outcomes.  

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Dr. Dreyzin earned her MD and Masters in Clinical Research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine after participating in the Clinical Scientist Training Program. She then completed her Pediatrics residency at UPMC Children’s Hospital and her Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at Children’s National Hospital. She began working with the National Institute of Health Center for Cell Engineering during fellowship and has continued this clinical and translational work after completing her training. She is studying how patients’ apheresis materials can be used to predict efficacy and toxicity of CAR T-cells and how the CAR T-cell manufacturing process can be leveraged to improve outcomes.

Devikala Gurusamy, PhD
National Institute of Health

Dr. Gurusamy is a Staff Scientist at the Division of Intramural Research, National Heart Lung, and Blood Institute (DIR, NHLBI). Her current research program in the laboratory of Dr. Jay Chung investigates the role of mitochondrial Porins, specifically VDACs, in T-cell fate decisions.

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With a PhD in Cancer and Cell Biology from the University of Cincinnati, she has received comprehensive scientific training in translational and clinical immunotherapy research at the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the laboratories of Dr. Nicholas Restifo and Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg. 
 
Dr. Gurusamy understands the limitations associated with current oncological treatments for metastatic cancer. Her expertise translates fundamental immunological principles into innovative immunotherapeutic solutions to offer curative options for individuals with metastatic disease. Her research focuses on identifying the molecular and metabolic pathways that govern the differentiation of mature CD8+ T cells, intending to leverage this knowledge to create highly effective antitumor T cells for cancer therapy. In pursuit of her research objectives, she has employed primary human T cells in conjunction with mouse models to explore fresh targets for T cell engineering and to refine optimal manufacturing processes for T cell treatment products. As she establishes her research laboratory, her ongoing endeavors include identifying novel targets for combination immuno-oncological treatment strategies and enhancing ex vivo cell manufacturing methods for T cell treatment products. Her current and future aims are to ensure the adaptability and scalability of these T cell treatment products for use across various treatment centers while minimizing potential adverse effects.

Ann Hanna, PhD
Balko Laboratory at Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Ann Hanna, PhD, is a senior post-doctoral fellow in the Balko Laboratory at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

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Her graduate and postdoctoral scientific career have concentrated on studying the tumor microenvironment and immuno-oncology, developing expertise in immune cell phenotyping and function, small animal modeling, and molecular biology. Dr. Hanna's career interests focus on the multi-disciplinary intersection of tumor immunology, oncology, and cancer biology to advance treatments and identify novel targets to improve outcomes for breast cancer patients.

Jaeseung Hahn, PhD
Columbia University

Jaeseung Hahn is a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University. His research interests have revolved around creating biomedical nano-devices to manipulate biological systems for the understanding and treatment of diseases at the molecular level.

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As an undergraduate researcher under the guidance of Dr. Yuying Gosser (City College of New York), Jaeseung conducted a computational study of the interface between drug candidates (andrographolide and its derivatives) and pro-apoptotic proteins (ERK2 and JNK3) based on their published 3D structures. Under the guidance of Dr. Sebastian Schluecker (University of Osnabrueck, Germany) and Drs. Jan Grimm and Daniel Thorek (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center), he developed new diagnostic and therapeutic nanoagents using metallic nanoparticles. Subsequently, Jaeseung became interested in DNA nanotechnology, which utilizes DNA as a building block for biodegradable nanomaterials. As a predoctoral student with Dr. William Shih (Harvard Medical School), his research focused on the fabrication of DNA-based nano-devices for biomedical applications. For the postdoctoral training, Jaeseung is converging synthetic biology and nanotechnology to bring medical innovation under the mentorship of Drs. Kam Leong and Tal Danino (Columbia University).

Imene Hamaidi, PhD
Mayo Clinic

Dr. Imene Hamaidi is a Research Associate at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, studying immuno-metabolism in cancers for defining new targeted therapies.

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Dr. Hamaidi is PharmD. PhD with an extensive expertise in molecular biology and immuno-metabolism. Her research interest is centered around revealing how metabolic restriction posed by tumor cells dysregulates T cell metabolism and leads to T cell functional exhaustion, and consequently facilitating cancer immune escape and resistance to immunotherapies. From this perspective, she is interested on identifying the molecular mechanisms induced in T cells that prime metabolic changes toward a suppressive state and the possibility of using this information to establish novel modalities in cancer immunotherapy. The pursuit of this quest has led her to discover an unknown function of the anti-aging Sirtuin 2 (Sirt2) as a metabolic checkpoint in T cells, that deacetylates multiple metabolic enzymes in the cytoplasm and diminishes their activity causing a profound downregulation of the metabolic activity and effector response of tumor-reactive T cells. This achievement led her to pursue the investigations on another Sirtuin (Sirt6), with an exclusive histone deacetylase activity, and to define the epigenetic switch that occurs in T cells and drives their ability to reprogram their metabolism, this time, via chromatin remodeling.

Elise Nassif Haddad, PhD
Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics at MD Anderson Cancer Center

As Assistant Professor in the Department of Sarcoma Medical Oncology and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics at MD Anderson Cancer Center, my goal to increase patient access to and expand the portfolio of safe, effective immunotherapeutic drugs for sarcoma patients, through translational research and increased inclusion of patients in biomarker selected early-phase trials.

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My major area of focus and expertise are sarcomas, specifically leiomyosarcomas and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcomas, translational immuno-oncology, specifically B-cell biology and tertiary lymphoid structures, and drug development, with an emphasis on early phase trials. 
 
I strongly believe that translational and basic research are fundamental to improving cancer care and are a fundamental part of the drug development pipeline. Therefore, I completed a Master of Science in immunology through a joint degree program from Pasteur Institute and Université Paris-Descartes in 2019, a PhD on biomarkers and mechanisms of response to neoadjuvant immune checkpoint blockade in soft-tissue sarcomas, and a post-doctoral fellowship at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. 

Juyeun Lee, PhD 
Cleveland Clinic, Lerner Research Institute

Dr. Lee's primary research interest centers around comprehending biological sex-related dissimilarities in adaptive immunity and their fundamental mechanisms within the challenging landscape of glioblastoma.

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The overarching objective of this research is to forge more efficacious therapeutic strategies for the benefit of glioblastoma patients. Dr. Lee's present emphasis is devoted to an in-depth exploration of sex disparities in T cell immunometabolism, a pivotal determinant in governing T cell exhaustion and functionality.

Xiaoxiao Ma, PhD
Cleveland Clinic

Xiaoxiao received his PhD degree at City of Hope Cance Center and after that, he moved to New York and later Cleveland to work with Dr. Timohty Chan to elicidate the genomic determinants of immunotherapy response.

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His work particularly focusing on how DNA damage repair deficiency impact the outcome of immune checkpoint blockade therapy. In one of his future research directions, Xiaoxiao is looking to further identify immunogenomic and immunometabolic mechanisms that could drive or contribute to the development of primary and acquired resistance to immunotherapy in the context of DDR deficient hypermutated tumors. 

Mara De Martino, PhD
Weill Cornell Medicine

Mara De Martino, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Associate in Radiation Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, USA. She obtained her Master's degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from the School of Science, La Plata National University, Argentina, and later completed a Ph.D. in Tumor Immunology at the School of Science, Buenos Aires University, Argentina.

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During her doctoral studies, Mara's work focused on role of the oncogene Stat3 in tumor biology and immunology, uncovering its potential for cancer immunotherapy. In her current role as a postdoctoral associate at Weill Cornell Medicine, under the mentorship of Dr. Claire Vanpouille-Box, Mara's research has shifted towards exploring the impact of radiation-induced metabolic changes on the immunogenicity of glioblastoma. Mara’s career objective is to establish herself as an independent researcher, specializing in the study of immunometabolism within the tumor microenvironment of brain tumors. Her aim is to identify targets that enhance the efficacy of radiotherapy and immunotherapy for improved cancer treatment outcomes.

Geoffrey Markowitz, PhD
Cardiothoracic Surgery Department at Weill Cornell Medicine

Dr. Geoffrey Markowitz is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department at Weill Cornell Medicine. He received his undergraduate degree in Biophysics from Johns Hopkins University.

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After serving two years as a Health Education Volunteer in the Peace Corps in Moldova, he worked as a lab technician in Dr. Anne Marie Comi's laboratory at the Kennedy Krieger Institute studying neonatal epileptogenesis. He performed his PhD work in Molecular Cancer Biology at Duke University in Dr. Xiao-Fan Wang's laboratory, studying the effects of inflammation and the tumor microenvironment on liver cancer tumorigenesis and progression with a particular emphasis on lymphocytes. After defending his thesis, he joined Dr. Vivek Mittal's laboratory at Weill Cornell Medicine, focusing his efforts on studying the mechanisms underlying T cell differentiation and response to checkpoint blockade, with a particular focus on metabolism. He has received T and K fellowships supporting his research throughout his training and was the recipient of the SITC 2022 Presidential Award for Young Investigators. He is a current member of the SITC Early Career Scientist Committee.

Inês Mota, PhD
Radiation Oncology department at Weill Cornell Medicine

Inês Mota, an accomplished immunologist, began her illustrious journey in the realm of tumor immunology at the University of Turin, Italy.

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Her dedication and drive led her to further her studies at the prestigious Boston Children's Hospital, affiliated with Harvard Medical School, where she honed her skills and deepened her understanding under the guidance of the esteemed Dr. Chiarle. Continuing her trajectory of excellence, Inês transitioned to a postdoctoral fellowship at Santambrogio's Lab in the Radiation Oncology department at Weill Cornell Medicine. Here, she shifted her research focus to the intriguing role of endogenous retroviruses in ovarian cancer. With her characteristic precision and analytical acumen, Inês identified peptides presented on both MHC class I and II in ovarian cancer tissues, further consolidating her reputation as a forward-thinking researcher in the field of immunology.

Abir Mukherjee, PhD
School of Medicine at the University of Chicago

Dr. Abir Mukherjee is an instructor in the School of Medicine at the University of Chicago. He received his Master of Science in Molecular and Genetic Medicine from the University of Sheffield, England, and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the Medical College of Virginia (Virginia Commonwealth University).

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Dr. Mukherjee's research interests lie in studying the metabolic crosstalk between cells in the tumor environment to identify vulnerabilities against cancer. Dr. Mukherjee uses multi-omic approaches and stable isotope tracing methods to profile the metabolism of tumors in vivo.

Drew Wilfahrt, PhD
Laboratory of Greg Delgoffe at the University of Pittsburgh

Drew Wilfahrt is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the laboratory of Greg Delgoffe at the University of Pittsburgh. Drew was born and raised in Watertown, South Dakota, and obtained his undergraduate degree in Biology from Saint John's University.

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During his time as an undergraduate, Drew was introduced and immediately transfixed by the field of immunology. He completed his PhD training in Immunology the Mayo Clinic in 2021, where his thesis work focused on the regulation of cholesterol metabolism in T cells during activation. 
 
In the Delgoffe lab, Drew continues to learn about immunometabolism in the context of tumor immunology. Drew is obsessed with the idea that epigenetic marks are, at their core, just metabolites attached to histones. His work in the Delgoffe lab examines the relationship between nutrient availability and heritable changes in T cell effector functions. Since T cells must perform effector functions in many different tissue microenvironments, he believes it is critical to understand how T cells respond to acute metabolic stress, and characterize the long-term effects of metabolic stress. His work focuses on the nutrient milieu of the tumor microenvironment, which is as a notoriously stressful nutrient environment that impairs T cell functions, and is a major hurdle for current treatment strategies.

Carlos Wanderley, PhD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Dr. Carlos Wanderley is currently engaged in research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Their expertise and enthusiasm encompass the fields of pharmacology, immunometabolism, tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), cancer immunology, and translational breast cancer research.

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As a doctoral student, Dr. Carlos made significant contributions in understanding the immune effects of classical anticancer drugs and the innate mechanisms governing TAM functional reprogramming. Subsequently, they played a crucial role in identifying predictive biomarkers for advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients undergoing treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Their ongoing research focuses on unraveling the mechanisms of resistance to chemotherapy and immunotherapy in breast cancer within the context of immunometabolism. Their future vision is to secure an independent academic research position dedicated to exploring the intersection of diet, obesity, breast cancer tumorigenesis, and immunotherapy response.