Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology

Centers of Research Excellence

Learn more about the research centers and team members that are part of the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology.

Centers of Research Excellence

To guide PIIO research efforts, the institute is organized into four interconnected centers of research excellence:

Cancer Immuno-Genomics

Cancer Immuno-Genomics, a program conducted in partnership with Nationwide Children’s Hospital which involves understanding the relationship between cancer genomics and immune evasion and includes epigenetics, neo-antigen vaccine, epitope prediction, TCR repertoire analysis, HLA typing, and CRISPR screening.

Carlo Maria Croce, MD
I am the John W. Wolfe Chair in Human Cancer Genetics and a member of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James, where I study the molecular changes in genes that lead to cancer.
Ann-Kathrin Eisfeld, MD
I am an associate professor in the Division of Hematology at The Ohio State University and a member of the Leukemia and Hematologic Malignancies Program at the OSUCCC – James, where my lab focuses primarily on understanding the genomic underpinnings of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Naduparambil K Jacob, PhD
I am a member of the Translational Therapeutic Program at the OSUCCC – James and the co-holder of four licensed U.S. patents related to miRNA biomarkers for radiation biodosimetry and for monitoring bone-marrow reconstitution.
Elaine Mardis, PhD
I am a professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University and co-leader of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James.
Matthew D Ringel, MD
I am the director of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at The Ohio State University.
Sameek Roychowdhury, MD, PhD
I am a medical oncologist who specializes in treating patients with advanced prostate and colorectal cancers, including soft tissue sarcoma.
Gina Marie Sizemore, PhD
I am an associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at The Ohio State University and the first recipient of the Block Lectureship Junior Faculty Award .
Esmerina Tili, PhD

Esmerina Tili, PhD

I am a research assistant professor at The Ohio State University.
Philip N Tsichlis, MD
I am a professor in the Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics at The Ohio State University and co-leader of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James.
Jing Wang, PhD
As a member of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James, I focus my research on basic and translational research projects that aim to understand the molecular mechanisms of colorectal cancer metastasis, recurrence, tumor dormancy and drug resistance.

Cell Therapy

Cell Therapy, where immune cells are collected from a patient’s blood, engineered, and returned to that patient to target and eradicate cancer and includes adoptive cell therapy with T cells and natural killer cells.

Jeffery J Auletta, MD
I am director of the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, which works closely with the OSUCCC – James Cell Therapy Lab and Adult Blood and Marrow Transplant Program in clinical trial development, cell therapies and educational events.
Joal Beane, MD
I am a surgical oncologist who specializes in the treatment of melanoma and sarcoma.
Don M Benson, MD, PhD
I’m a hematologist-oncologist caring for patients with multiple myeloma, amyloidosis and those undergoing blood and marrow transplantation.
Ashley Angell Krull, PhD
Dr. Ashley Krull has focused her work on the manufacturing and engineering of cellular therapeutics for the treatment of cancer.
Xiaoguang “Margaret” Liu, PhD
I am a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Biological Engineering at The Ohio State University.
Lynn O'Donnell, PhD

Lynn O'Donnell, PhD

I am a professor of Internal Medicine. My research interests include novel cellular therapies for malignancies and regenerative medicine, translational development, GMP manufacturing, IND and IDE submissions for FDA.
Susheela Tridandapani, PhD
I am a member of the Leukemia and Hematologic Malignancies Program at the OSUCCC – James, where my research focuses on molecular mechanisms of innate immune responses to bacterial pathogens and immunoglobulin G complexes.
Sumithira Vasu, MD
I am a hematologist-oncologist who specializes in treating patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), myelodysplastic syndromes and bone marrow transplantation.
Yiping Yang, MD, PhD
I am a nationally recognized expert in cancer immunology and immunotherapy who serves as the director of the Division of Hematology at The Ohio State University.

Systems Immuno-Oncology

Systems Immuno-Oncology, which seeks a better understanding of cellular systems to create more efficient and effective immunological tools to fight cancer and includes immune regulation, innate immunity and inflammation, microbiome, NK and T cell biology, and tumor microenvironment.

Nandini Acharya, PhD
A comprehensive understanding of the tumor microenvironment will aid the development of holistic therapeutic strategies for the treatment of cancer.
Munir Akkaya MD, DPhil
I am currently working in the fields of B cell immunology and host pathogen interactions. My research has focused, to a large extent, on understanding the interactions between different B cell activation modalities and how these signals collectively determine B cell fates. A particular interest of my lab is investigating the impact of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) on the outcome of antigen-specific activation through the B cell receptor (BCR). My research on host-pathogen interactions has focused on the impact of humoral immune responses in malaria.
Billur Akkaya MD, DPhil
I study the mechanisms of regulatory T cell (Treg) mediated immune suppression in the context of autoimmunity and cancer using state-of-the-art techniques. My lab is currently funded by the NIAID New Innovators Award (DP2) for exploring new precision therapies for autoimmune diseases and solid tumors.
Ephraim Abrokwa Ansa-Addo, PhD
I am a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James, where my research is centered on characterizing the roles of different subsets of regulatory T (Treg) cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and their impact on cancer progression, as well as the fate commitment of antitumor T cells to exhaustion.
Christin E. Burd, PhD
I am a member of the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program at the OSUCCC – James, where my research focuses on improving our understanding of the connections between cancer and aging.
Jonathan P Butchar, PhD
As a member of the Leukemia and Hematologic Malignancies Program at the OSUCCC – James, I seek to improve the efficacy of antibody therapy through my research.
Patrick Leonard Collins, PhD
I am an assistant professor in the Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity at The Ohio State University and a member of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James, where my research focuses on genomic mechanisms that balance immune development and disease.
Purnima Dubey, PhD
I am an associate professor in the Department of Microbiology at The Ohio State University and a member of the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program at the OSUCCC – James.
Hazem Ghoneim, PhD
I am a member of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James, where my research focuses on understanding the epigenetic programming of T cells during infection and cancer.
Patrick Lee Green, PhD
I am a professor and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Veterinary Medicine at The Ohio State University, where I also direct the Center for Retrovirus Research.
Feng Hong, MD, PhD
I am a member of the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology and the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James, where my research focuses on investigating the mechanisms of regulation by unfolded protein response (UPR) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in the context of liver diseases, including cancer and fatty liver.
Amanda Hummon, PhD
I am a member of the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention at the OSUCCC – James, where my research interests lie at the intersection of analytical chemistry and chemical biology, with a focus on cancer biology.
Bill Kisseberth, DVM, PhD
I am a veterinary oncologist with interests in comparative oncology, cancer genetics, experimental therapeutics and lymphoma.
Zihai Li, MD, PhD
I am a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James and the founding director of the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology (PIIO), which is dedicated to transforming the OSUCCC – James into a leader in basic and clinical immunology research, including prevention and survivorship.
Chan-Wang "Jerry" Lio, PhD
As a member of the Leukemia Research Program at the OSUCCC – James, my research seeks to understand how B-cell responses are regulated at the transcriptional and epigenetic levels, with a focus on DNA modifications.
Bei Liu, MD, MPH
I am a professor in the Division of Hematology at The Ohio State University and a member of the Leukemia and Hematologic Malignancies Program at the OSUCCC – James, where my research focuses on cancer immunotherapy, tumor immunology and innate immunity.
Thomas Magliery, PhD
I am an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at The Ohio State University and the vice chair for graduate studies.
Bethany Lynn Mundy-Bosse, PhD
I am an associate professor with tenure in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology at The Ohio State University and a member of the Leukemia and Hematologic Malignancies Program at the OSUCCC – James.
Natarajan Muthusamy, PhD, DVM
I am a member of the Leukemia and Hematologic Malignancies Program at the OSUCCC – James, where my research focuses on several areas, including biological therapies for hematologic malignancies, the development and characterization of clinically relevant animal models of lymphoid malignancies and targeted delivery of RNA-based therapeutics in lymphoid and myeloid malignancies.
Ken Oestreich, PhD
I am an associate professor in the Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity at The Ohio State University and a member of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James, where my research focuses on the areas of molecular and cellular immunology as they relate to the pathogenesis of human disease.
Steve Oghumu, PhD
I am a member of the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program at the OSUCCC – James, where my research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of oral carcinogenesis and black raspberry-mediated oral chemoprevention.
Eugene Oltz, PhD
As a member of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James, I study the genetic, epigenetic and topological mechanisms that govern gene expression programs in normal and transformed lymphocytes.
Blake R Peterson, PhD
I am a professor and chair of the Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy.
Dan Spakowicz, PhD
I am a research assistant professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at The Ohio State University and a member of the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program at the OSUCCC – James.
Debasish Sundi, MD
I am a urologic oncology specialist providing medical and surgical care to patients with bladder and urothelial cancers.
Anna Vilgelm, MD, PhD
I am an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology at The Ohio State University and a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James, where my research focuses on stress response phenotypes that enhance tumor cell immunogenicity.
Haitao Wen, PhD, MD
As a member of the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program at the OSUCCC – James, the long-term goal of my lab is to investigate the function and mechanism of glucose and mitochondrial metabolism in the antitumor immunity during colorectal cancer (CRC) development.
Joyce Wu, PhD

Joyce Wu, PhD

I am a professor in the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology at The Ohio State University.
Gang Xin, PhD
I am an assistant professor in the Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity at The Ohio State University and a research scientist within the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology at the OSUCCC – James.

Translational Immuno-Oncology

Translational Immuno-Oncology, an area that focuses on transforming immuno-oncology discoveries into new or improved cancer treatments applicable at patient bedsides. This team works with the Drug Development Institute at the OSUCCC – James on developing new drug therapies.

Robert A Baiocchi, MD, PhD
I am a medical oncologist who treats patients with blood cancers.
David P Carbone, MD, PhD
I am a medical oncologist who specializes in creating cutting-edge treatments for patients with lung cancer.
William E Carson, MD
I am a board-certified surgeon and formally trained surgical oncologist who has been engaged in the study of the immune response to cancer for the past two decades.
Kevin Cassady, MD
As a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James, I focus my research on how tumor cells permit selective oncolytic viral replication and how these same pathways influence the viral-induced immune-mediated response.
Laura J Chambers, DO, MS, BA
I am an assistant professor in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at The Ohio State University, where I specialize in treating patients with cancers of the uterus, cervix, ovaries, fallopian tubes, vagina and vulva.
David Cheng, PhD, MHS, MS, BS
I am an associate professor in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control at The Ohio State University and a member of the Cancer Control Program at the OSUCCC – James.
Hannah Choe, MD
I am a hematologist who specializes in blood and marrow stem cell transplantation and treating patients with myeloid diseases, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML), myeloproliferative diseases and other conditions requiring allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
Steven K Clinton, MD, PhD
I am a medical oncologist specializing in prostate cancer.
Tim Cripe, MD, PhD
I am a professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University, chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology/BMT at Nationwide Children's Hospital, and a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James.
Ramesh Ganju, PhD
I am a professor and vice chair of experimental pathology in the Department of Pathology at The Ohio State University.
Margaret E Gatti-Mays, MD, MPH
I am section chief of Breast Medical Oncology and an associate professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at the OSUCCC – James, where I specialize in breast cancer, immunotherapy, side effects from immunotherapy and rare subtypes of breast cancer like small-cell breast cancer.
Andy Gunderson, PhD
I am an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery - Division of Surgical Oncology at The Ohio State University and a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James.
Kai He, PhD, MD
I am a board-certified medical oncologist and assistant professor of medicine in the Thoracic Oncology Program at The Ohio State University.
Sachin Jhawar, MD
As a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James, I am interested in clinical and translational research related to the study of breast cancer, head and neck cancer, and cutaneous malignancies.
Blaise Kimmel, MS, PhD
My work is focused on developing logic-gated “smart” immunotherapies and medicines for cancer and rare diseases by integrating principles from protein synthetic biology, medicinal chemistry, and T-cell immunology.
Meixiao Long, PhD, MD
As a hematologist-oncologist, I have a special interest in treating patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
Thomas A Mace, PhD
As a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James, my research is focused on translational tumor immunology, namely discovering new targets and pathways in the tumor microenvironment that can lead to improvements in patient responses to immune-based therapeutics.
Darrion L Mitchell, MD, PhD
I am a radiation oncologist with a special interest in improving prognostic, diagnostic and treatment responses in patients with head and neck cancer and prostate cancer.
Arjun Mittra, MD
I am an assistant professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at the OSUCCC – James.
Dwight H Owen, MD
I am a medical oncologist who specializes in treating patients with thoracic malignancies, including lung cancer, mesothelioma and thymic cancers.
Ioanna Papandreou, PhD
I am a member of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James, where my research focus is on identifying new metabolic targets for therapeutic development.
Mitch A. Phelps, PhD
I am a professor in the College of Pharmacy, Division of Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology and a member of the Leukemia Research Program at the OSUCCC-James, where my research in translational pharmacology and pharmacometrics focuses on identifying and overcoming mechanisms of resistance to immunotherapies and other anti-cancer drugs.
Dionisia M Quiroga, PhD, DO
I am a breast medical oncologist and assistant professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Parvathi Ranganathan, PhD
My work is focused on investigating the mechanisms regulating dysfunctional immune responses following an allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant.
Raju R Raval, MD
I am a radiation oncologist who specializes in treating patients with central nervous system malignancies, including primary tumors such as glioblastoma, meningioma and ependymoma.
Mark P Rubinstein, PhD
I am an associate professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at The Ohio State University and a researcher in the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology at the OSUCCC – James, where I also serve as a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program.
Daniel G Stover, MD
I am a medical oncologist who specializes in the treatment of breast cancer.
Claire F Verschraegen, MD
I am a professor of medicine and director of the Division of Medical Oncology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Lai Wei, PhD
I am a research assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and serve as the program leader of the clinical trials unit in the Center for Biostatistics at The Ohio State University.
Robert Wesolowski, MD
I am a medical oncologist specializing in treating patients with breast cancer, including female and male breast cancers, ductal breast carcinomas, lobular carcinomas, medullary carcinomas and inflammatory breast cancers.
Andreas Michael Wieland, PhD, MSc
I am an assistant professor in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at The Ohio State University and a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James.
Yuanquan Yang, MD, PhD
I am a medical oncologist who specializes in treating genitourinary malignancies, including prostate, bladder, kidney and testicular cancer.
Junran Zhang, MD, PhD
I am a professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at The Ohio State University and a member of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James, where my team studies the DNA damage response (DDR) and how the process can be exploited for personalized medicine.

Immuno-Informatics (Data Science)

Immuno-Informatics (Data Science), where big data and quantitative science is used to improve immuno-oncology research and includes machine learning, neo-antigen discovery, spatial statistics, etc.

Dongjun Chung, PhD
I am an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Jayajit Das, PhD
I am a principal investigator in the Battelle Center for Mathematical Medicine at The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and an associate professor of Pediatrics at the Ohio State University.
Lang Li, PhD
As a member of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James, I focus my research on two cancer-related areas.
Qin Ma, PhD
I am a professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at The Ohio State University and a member of the Molecular Biology and Cancer Genetics Program at the OSUCCC – James, where I study how diverse cells impact cancer development.
Anjun Ma, PhD
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and a member of the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology (PIIO) at the OSUCCC – James.

Immune Monitoring and Discovery Platform

Immune Monitoring and Discovery Platform, which is backed by a new facility with technology that allows scientists to get a 360-degree view—down to the single-cell level—of what happens in the immune system during treatment with immuno-oncology agents.

Gregory K Behbehani, PhD, MD
I’m a hematologist-oncologist and provide clinical, inpatient care of patients with acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphocytic leukemia.
Zobeida Cruz-Monserrate, PhD
I am the director of the Molecular and Cellular Biology Program and Laboratory in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (GHN) at The Ohio State University, as well as a co-leader of the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program at the OSUCCC – James.
Yoshinobu Koguchi, MD, PhD
I have decades of experience in biomarker discovery, immune monitoring, and biobanking. My research interests are flow cytometry, human immunology, single-cell RNA-seq, TCR-seq, BCR-seq, spatial transcriptomics, multispectral imaging, therapeutic antibody detection in serum, antibody repertoire, immunopeptidomics, and immune profiling of immunotherapy for cancer.
Namal Liyanage, PhD
My major research interests are to explore novel strategies to prevent and control chronic viral infections such as HIV through better understanding of the innate and adaptive immune responses.
Alexa S Meara, MD, MS
I am a rheumatologist in the Division of Oncology, exploring the interface of oncology and rheumatology.
Maria MILKOVA Mihaylova, PhD
I am an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at The Ohio State University and a recipient of the Block Lectureship Junior Faculty Award .
Jeffrey Patrick, PharmD

Jeffrey Patrick, PharmD

I am a residency-trained clinical pharmacist with nearly 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience.
Kevin Weller

Kevin Weller

I am the associate director of the Immune Monitoring and Discovery Platform.