Yuta Itoh, M.D.
Tokyo Jikei University of Medicine, Department of Dermatology, Japan
Yuta is dissecting the significance of melanoma cell-intrinsic signaling on Tim-3 checkpoint regulation and function. He is employing melanoma cell culture models, FDA-approved Tim-3 pathway inhibitors, Tim-3 antibodies, flow cytometry, Western blotting, quantitative RT-PCR, cell culture-based assays and preclinical mouse models of melanoma to improve immunotherapeutic efficacy involving Tim-3 targeting.
Angelo DeRosa
Senior at Catholic Memorial High School
Angelo genetically engineered new galectin-immunoglobulin fusion proteins, which mimic natively active galectin molecules, for use in experiments investigating roles of galectin-binding partners and therapies in melanoma development, diverse cancers, and immune diseases.
Kate Stewart
Undergrad at University of Western Ontario
Kate utilized molecular and cell biological techniques involving gene cloning, gene overexpression and genetic knockdown by RNA interference to generate unique melanoma cell variants. Impact of molecular alterations on melanoma cell binding, growth and metastasis were studied by flow cytometry, Western blotting and animal models of cancer progression.
Erika Yazawa Lagos
Medical Student at Boston University
Erika helped develop a public outreach video for ESPN and the V Foundation for Cancer Research (ESPN’s 2016 V Week) describing our laboratory work. She mined a large bioinformatics database from a published research manuscript to construct new graphs of gene expression in single melanoma and immune cells for inclusion in manuscripts and grants. Erika also helped interrogate new signaling pathways in melanoma cells using phospho antibody arrays.
Anne Brandenburg
Medical Student at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität
Bonn Anne is dissecting functional involvement of integrin heterodimers in melanoma homing using flow cytometry, qPCR, Transwell migration assays, and murine models of melanoma metastasis (Dr. Tobias Schatton, co-mentor).
Satomi Tatsumi, M.D.
Dermatologist and Observer from Nippon Medical School
Satomi is examining melanoma cell adhesive and migratory responses to immune checkpoint receptor blockade (Dr. Tobias Schatton, co-mentor).
