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Carson Lab

News

Learn about all the latest news related to the Carson Lab.

    Lab Updates

    Winter 2021

    During the past few months, while implementing new COVID guidelines, the Carson Lab team has continued to do what we do best, pulling together and forging full steam ahead on our cancer research projects with one goal in mind — finding the cure for cancer.  With the addition of PPE and social distancing the safety of our fellow lab members is a top priority.

    Lab Member Highlights

    • Dr. Carson, reflecting on his successful career as a physician, scientist, gave an inspiring lecture Friday, February 5, 2021. The Carson Lab team agrees that it includes excellent career and life advice and is “A MUST WATCH.” Beyond the CV: William E. Carson, III MD. (FAME)

    • Brooke Benner completed her graduate studies in our lab and is now helping to guide our research team as a Post Doc Scholar. She recently received a travel award for her research at the OSU Annual Scientific Meeting in the Clinical/Translational Science category.  Her artwork was featured in the OSU Alumni Fall 2020 Newsletter and she submitted a poster at the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology (PIIO) Symposium Poster Presentation “ A pilot study of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib alone and in combination with PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab in patients with metastatic solid tumors.” 

    • Himanshu Savardekar is completing his graduate studies in the Carson Lab and will be presenting his current research on Single cell RNA Sequencing analysis on the effect of Ibrutinib of Myeloid Derived Suppressor cells at the upcoming Trainee Research Day at OSU this spring. He is also collaborating with Dr. Andrew Stiff, a former MD/PhD student in the lab, on the effect of BRD4 inhibition on myeloid derived suppressor cells.  A large animal study for this project will begin in the spring.

    • Dr. Robert Wesolowski is a medical oncologist who works closely with the Carson Lab on clinical cancer studies. He recently joined the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) Jan 2021, as co-leader - Disease Focused Clinical Investigators (DFCIs), Women’s Malignancies Section

    • Mallory Divincenzo, DVM, Veterinary Anatomic Pathology Resident and PhD Candidate in the Carson Lab will be graduating in May. She recently attended the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Virtual Annual Meeting and presented her poster submission “MicroRNA expression patterns in melanomas originating from gynecologic sites.” November 2020

    • Dr. Dione Quiroga, a medical oncologist, is on a T32 Fellowship and completing her clinical research in the lab. Please help us congratulate Dr. Quiroga on her receipt of the OSU Cancer Intramural Supportive Care Pilot Research Award. 2021-2022, “Characterizing the systemic inflammatory effects of breast cancer lymphedema correcting surgeries”.

      She recently attended the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting. She will be attending the 2021 American Society for Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting as well as the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting.

      Dr. Quiroga is an invited speaker to the March 8th, 2021, Michigan State University DO/PhD Seminar Series. She is currently serving as a Trainee Reviewer for the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

      Listed below are recent Abstracts-poster submissions by Dr. Quiroga:

      Collier K, Rogers A, Cottini F, Hanel W, Bustamante-Alvarez J, Jain N, George T, Rogers S, Brown L, Koenig K, Singer S, Ali A, Eisfeld A, Patel SH, Quiroga D, Memmott R, Denlinger N, Sigmund A, Husain M, Sahasrabudhe K, Sukumar J, Gast K, Sukumar S, Walker A, Otterson G, Doll H. Improving Referral Rates to Genetic Counseling for Young Patients Diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer [oral presentation]. 2020 Ohio State University Resident/Fellow QI Symposium; 2020 Oct 26; virtual format.

      Goldstein D, Kassem M, Quiroga D, Miah A, Vargo C, Shinde NV, Berger M, Williams N, Stover D, Sardesai S, Wesolowski R, Lustberg M, Ramaswamy B, Tozbikian G, Schnell P, Cherian MA. Immunomodulation with dexamethasone in neoadjuvant chemotherapy for triple negative breast cancer. [Poster presentation]. 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-12; virtual format.

      Sukumar J, Quiroga D, Kassem M, Grimm M, Vilas Shinde N, Palettas M, Stephens J, Cherian M, Stover D, Williams N, Van Deusen J, Wesolowski R, Lustberg M, Ramaswamy B, Sardesai S. Patient preferences and treatment adherence to adjuvant ovarian suppression among premenopausal women with hormone receptor positive breast cancer. [Accepted for poster presentation]. NCCN 2021 Virtual Annual Conference; 2021 Mar 18-20; virtual format.


    • Dr. Deb Sundi is an urologist specializing in urologic oncology and conducts research in collaboration with the Carson lab.  He has recently been selected to chair a scientific ‘breakout’ session at the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network Think Tank – Biologic Sex Differences in Bladder Cancer and to score abstract submissions and moderate the scientific session for 2021 American Urological Association annual meeting – Bladder Cancer: Basic Science and Pathophysiology.  He serves as a “Star Reviewer” for Urologic Oncology 2020.

      Dr. Sundi is a contributing author to ASCO abstract: PrE0807: A Phase Ib Feasibility Trial of Neoadjuvant Nivolumab without or with Lirilumab in Cisplatin-Ineligible Patients with Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer.

      Congratulations are in order for Dr. Sundi’s recent DOD Career Development award – Discovery of Sex Specific Immune Biomarkers of Bladder Cancer. 


    • Steve Sun, a general surgery resident, is conducting research in our lab on a T32 fellowship.  He will be finishing his Master’s Degree and presenting for Surgery Grand Rounds in April. Dr. Sun along with his undergraduate research assistant, Gabriella Lapurga, had their abstract submitted to the Society of Surgical Oncologists, accepted for oral presentation during the 2021 SSO virtual meeting in March. "Differences in Myeloid Derived Suppressor Cell Populations in Patients with Ulcerated vs Non-ulcerated Melanoma Receiving Immune Checkpoint Blockade"

    Recent Publications

    • Benner, B. Observations on the use of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitors in SARS-CoV-2 and cancer.  Journal of Hematology and Oncology

    • McCaw ZR, Odisho AY, Chaparala H, Yin M, Cloyd J, Svatek RS, Carson WE, Lee CT, Sundi D. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in bladder cancer: Clinical benefit observed in prospective trials computed with restricted mean survival times. Jan 2021 Urologic Oncology

    • Sukumar J, Gast K, Quiroga D, Lustberg M, Williams N. Triple-negative breast cancer: promising prognostic biomarkers currently in development. Expert Rev Anticancer Therapy. 2020, DOI: 10.1080/14737140.2021.1840984

    • Blaszczak AM, Quiroga D (co-first author), Jalilvand A, Torres Matias GS, Wright VP, Liu J, Bradley D, Hsueh WA, Carson WE 3rd. Characterization of inflammatory changes in breast cancer associated adipose tissue in comparison to contralateral unaffected breast. Clinical Breast Cancer. [In review]

    Summer/Fall 2019

    New People

    • Steven Sun, a General Surgery resident at The Ohio State University, has joined the Carson Lab as a postdoctoral research fellow under the T32 ARTIST grant. His current research focuses on targeted inhibition of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase and its effect on myeloid derived suppressor cells.

    • The Carson Lab is welcoming back three undergraduate research assistants for the 2019-2020 academic year: Zoe Barricklow, Logan Good and Gabby Lapurga.

    New Publications

    Progress in Research

    • Carson Lab T32 Fellow Mallory DiVincenzo recently attended the Annual Short Course on Experimental Models of Human Cancer sponsored by Jackson Laboratories in Bar Harbor, Maine. Dr. DiVincenzo presented her research “Determining Micro-RNA Patterns in Ulcerated Melanoma.”

    Winter 2019

    New Publications

    Fall 2018

    New Science

    • Alicia Blaszczak will be presenting her work entitled “Increased Anti-Inflammatory T-cells in a Novel Evaluation of Adipose Tissue in Breast Carcinoma” at the 14th Annual Academic Surgical Congress to be held February 5-7, 2019 in Houston, TX

    New Trials

    • Dr. Rob Wesolowski has just opened a new clinical trial of the targeted agent ibrutinib in combination with nivolumab – OSU Study 18015, which is based directly on Carson Lab science.

    New Publications

    New People

    • Himanshu Savardekar was recently hired as a Research Assistant in the Carson Lab and will be coordinating the procurement of patient samples and act as the lead tech on our animal studies.

    • Andrew Stiff, a former lab member who received his PhD degree while in our lab, is returning to the Carson lab through the Ohio State College of Medicine Advanced Competency in Biomedical Research program and will be continuing his research while completing medical school.

    Summer 2017

    • First-year medical student Casey Ren joined the lab for the summer to complete a research project studying microRNAs in melanoma.

    • Kallie Jiang joined the lab for the summer as a member of the SUCCESS (Summer Undergraduate Course Creating Excellence in Scientific Study) summer program. Kallie is an undergraduate at Oberlin College and will be working with Brooke studying tumor associated macrophages.

    • The Carson lab celebrated its 20th anniversary!

    Spring 2017

    • Megan Duggan and Andrew Stiff successfully defended their dissertations.

    • Dr. Carson hooded Megan at Ohio State’s May 2017 commencement ceremony

    • Undergraduate researchers Nico Olaverria Salavaggione, David Abood, Tiffany Noel and Kristin Bede all graduated from OSU this spring!

    • David Abood and Nico Olaverria Salavaggione successfully defended their undergraduate research theses! David accepted a position as a full-time Research Assistant with the Carson Lab following his graduation.

    • Nick Courtney received a prestigious Pelotonia Undergraduate Fellowship for the 2017-2018 school year.

    • Dr. Suarez-Kelly and Dr. Pinette attended the 2017 Society for Surgical Oncology meeting where both presented research.

    Spring – Summer 2016

    • Liz McMichael, Megan Duggan and Andrew Stiff attended the annual AACR meeting in New Orleans in April. Each student presented a poster and interacted in a collegial and scholarly manner with other like-minded students at various Bourbon Street locations. Megan Duggan’s poster was chosen for an award.

    • PhD candidate Megan Duggan won a 2016 AACR Women in Cancer Research Scholar award at the 2016 AACR annual meeting. Congratulations Megan! In June of this year, Megan Duggan was awarded a second year of funding via the “Systems and Integrative Biology” (SIB) T32 Training Fellowship in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program.

    • Liz McMichael defended her thesis in April 2016, graduated and accepted a position at the University of Pittsburgh in the research Group of Dr. Robert L. Ferris.

    • Amanda Harper graduated from the Carson Lab and is pursuing her MD in the OSU College of Medical School.

    • Liz McMichael and Amanda Harper received momentos of their accomplishments and were awarded the prestigious LT Furbrush Award.

    • Nico Olaverria Salavaggione and Tiffany Noel spent the summer months of 2016 as Pelotonia Undergraduate Fellows and completed exciting projects. Nico studied the role of the proteasome inhibitors in malignant melanoma with Megan Duggan and Tiffany studied immune suppressor cells and their effects on natural killer cells with Lorena Suarez-Kelly.

    • David Abood and Nicholas Courtney received prestigious Undergraduate Research Summer Fellowships through the Undergraduate Research Office.

    • The summer brought many new talented students to the lab: Brooke Benner, Megann Boone and Mark Hahn are currently pursuing their doctoral degrees through the Biomedical Sciences Program and participated in a summer rotation in the Carson Lab. Brooke studied the expression of NRAS isoform 2 in sarcoma. Megann studied the ability to target myeloid derived suppressor cells through tissue factor expression. Mark studied the role of BRD4 in myeloid derived suppressor cell function.

    • Walter Wang is pursuing a MD/PhD through the Medical Sciences Training Program and had a successful summer rotation studying the potential therapeutic role of fluorescent nanodiamonds with Lorena.

    • Madison Krischak is student from Duke University who participated in the SUCCESS (Summer Undergraduate Course Creating Excellence in Scientific Study) program.

    • Ashley Pinette has accepted a T32 Fellowship with the Carson Lab. Ash is General Surgery resident at Wright State University who is taking two years to learn the ins and outs of bench research. He is currently studying the effects of interleukin-15 on human natural killer cells and their ability to destroy head and neck cancer cells.

    • Tiffany Noel is a 2016 Pelotonia Fellow with an inspiring story.

    • Amanda Campbell attended the Keystone Immunotherapy Conference in Vancouver in January. She presented a poster entitled “MICA-Expressing monocytes enhance natural killer cell Fc receptor-mediated effector functions.”

    • We recently welcomed our new lab manager, Ruthann Norman!

    • Megan Duggan and Andrew Stiff successfully completed their candidacy exams in March.

    • Amanda Campbell successfully defended her thesis in March.

    • Nick Courtney, Nico Salavaggione, David Abood, Sarvani Uppati and Tiffany Noel all presented posters at the annual OSU Denman Undergraduate Research Forum in March. Good work!

    June – September 2015

    • Amanda Campbell (Harper) was awarded a Graduate Student Pelotonia Fellowship and Megan Duggan was awarded a SIB T32 Training Fellowship from the BSGP at Ohio State.

    • MD/PhD candidates Amanda Campbell and Andrew Stiff were selected to give oral presentations at the MSTP summer retreat.

    • Nick Courtney joined the Carson Lab as an undergraduate research associate.

    • BSGP first year graduate student Bailey Dye began rotating in the lab. Bailey is working on a project looking at the different isoforms of NRAS in sarcomas.

    • NIH T32 postdoctoral fellow Lorena Suarez-Kelly joined the Carson Lab following her residency at Memorial University.

    April – June 2015

    • Undergraduate SUCCESS student Michelle Culbertson joined the Carson lab for the summer from her home institution of Arizona State University.

    • Graduate student Elizabeth McMichael gave her talk, entitled, “IL-21 enhances natural killer cell activity against cetuximab-coated pancreatic tumor cells.” at the OSU Department of Surgery Research Day. Dr. Nicholas Latchana also presented his talk, entitled, “Classification of Indeterminate Melanocytic Lesions by MicroRNA Profiling.”

    • Dr. Nicholas Latchana won 1st place in Oncology at the Annual American College of Surgeons Ohio Chapter Meeting for his oral presentation on Global MicroRNA Profiling of Indeterminate Melanocytic Lesions.

    January – March 2015

    • Carson Lab undergraduates Gonzalo Nico Olaverria Salavaggione and Tiffany Noel were awarded Summer Undergraduate Research Institute scholarships to work in the lab full time over the summer of 2015.

    October – December 2014

    • Gonzalo Olaverria-Salavaggione and Tiffany Noel joined the Carson lab as undergraduate volunteers.

    • Amanda Harper, an MD/PhD candidate in the Carson Lab, had a talk at the OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center Translational Therapeutics retreat entitled, “A Factor VII-IgG Fc Fusion Protein and Interleukin-15 to Promote Natural Killer Cell Activity Against Metastatic Melanoma.”

    • Elizabeth McMichael, a PhD candidate in the Carson lab, had a poster at the OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center Translational Therapeutics retreat entitled, “Enhancement of cetuximab-induced antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity with lenalidomide in advanced solid tumors: A Phase I trial.”

    • Dr. Prashant Trikha a senior researcher in the Carson lab, had a poster at the OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center Translational Therapeutics retreat entitled, “Modulation of Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cell Function with Ibrutinib, a Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor.”

    • Dr. Nicholas Latchana, a surgical resident in the Carson lab, had a poster at the OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center Translational Therapeutics retreat entitled, “Classification of Indeterminate Melanocytic Lesions by MicroRNA Profiling.” IBGP first year graduate student Leslee Sprague began rotating in the lab. Les is working on a project looking at the genes involved in Dr. Carson’s clinical trial OSU-07033, “A Pilot Study of IFN-alpha-2b Dose Reduction with Dose Optimization” in patients with melanoma.

    • Amanda Harper attended the SITC conference and gave an oral presentation of her work, entitled, “Monocyte Expression of MICA Enhances the Natural Killer Cell Response to Antibody- Coated Tumor Targets.”

    • Amanda Harper and Elizabeth McMichael were chosen to give talks at the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program Retreat. Amanda Harper gave her talk on, “Monocyte Expression of MICA Enhances the Natural Killer Cell Response to Antibody- Coated Tumor Targets.” Elizabeth McMichael gave her talk, entitled, “IL-21 enhances natural killer cell activity against cetuximab-coated pancreatic tumor cells.”

    • Dr. Joseph Markowtiz, MD/PhD attended the AACR Immunology meeting in Florida and presented his poster entitled, “Nitroaspirins abrogate myeloid derived suppressor cell inhibition of dendritic cell antigen presentation to CD4+ T cells in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.”

    • Carson lab first year IBGP graduate student Megan Duggan was awarded a Career Development Grant from the Council of Graduate Students.

    • The entire Carson Lab participated in the OSUCCC – James’ Hope for the Holiday program, and was able to help make Christmas gifts possible for a family of four.