Research Updates

 

 

Winter/Spring

Congratulations to Yi Fan as he is elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation.

Congratulations to Ashley Zhao in the Fan Lab who received a Predoctoral Fellowship from the American Heart Association.

Congratulations to Theresa Busch on her R21 Grant and Andrea Facciabene on his R01 Grant!

Welcomes: Quixan Zheng Postdoc in the Conn Lab;  Vikas a visiting scholar in the Zhu Lab; Chauntae Thompson to the position of Financial Coordinator

Marie Catherine Vozonin
FLASH Workshop Keynote Address given by Marie-Catherine Vozenin

On March 10, 2025, the Department of Radiation Oncology held the FLASH Radiotherapy Educational Workshop, in the Rubenstein Auditorium. Thank you to all that made this a successful event! 

On May 7th, 2025, The PA Breast Cancer Coalition (PBCC) presented a grant of $100,000 to Ioannis Verginadis, PhD,  to advance his research on FLASH proton radiation therapy for breast cancer. Congratulations! 

The Radiobiology and Imaging Program Retreat was held on May 14th, 2025, with Dr. Peter Choyke giving the Keynote address, "Intercepting the Trajectory of Cancer: The Role of Advanced Molecular Imaging"

 

Summer/Fall

A big welcome to our SUPERS@PENN class of 2025We have 19 amazing students this summer from all over the country!

Kudos to Ioannis Verginadis for his award of the 2025 AACR-Novocure Cancer Research Grant, Therapeutic synergy of TTFields with radiation therapy and immunotherapy in preclinical PDAC models.

Congratulations to Yi Fan, MD, PhD, who presetned at the 63rd Annual PTCOG conference in Buenos Aires. We also congratulate Andy Minn, MD, PhD who accepted the position of Chair of the new Immuno-Oncology Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Center. We will miss Andy, but wish him well in NY! 

Theresa Busch, PhD has been appointed to the position of Vice Chair of Biology Research! As the Vice Chair of Biology and member of the Executive Leadership Team, Theresa will continue to work closely with Costas Koumenis, PhD (Vice Chair of Research) and deepen her partnerships across all areas of the department, contributing to our ongoing mission and vision. In her capacity as Vice Chair of Biology, she will lead initiatives to strengthen our biology research program, mentor junior faculty in biological sciences, and represent our biological research interests in cross-departmental and institutional collaborations.

We welcome Shervin Tabrizi, MD, Assistant Professor to RadOnc Research! Dr. Tabrizi's research focuses on: technology development for liquid biopsies, biomarker discovery, biomarker biology, and translational cancer research. Combining experimental and computational approaches to investigate and develop novel technologies for diagnostics, with a special focus on cancer diagnostics. His office will be in BRB. 

We also welcome: Dimitrios Bikas, Research Specialist to Tabrizi lab and Pierre Loap, Visitng Shcolar to Verginadis lab. 

On November 5, 2025, we hosted Dr. Max Diehn as the 2025 YUHAS Awardee. Dr. Diehn gave the Award Lecture, "Liquid Biopsies for the Detection and Characterization of Cancers" to a full JMEC auditroium; followed by an award ceremony and reception. 

Costas Koumenis, Max Diehn (Yuhas Awardee) Alex Lin
Costas Koumenis, Max Diehn (YUHAS Awardee), Alex Lin

In December we welcomed new lab members to Research: Dipanwita Dutta Chowdhury, Postdoc to Facciabene Lab and Iftikhar Ali Khawar, Senior Research Specialist to Conn Lab. 

2024

*Congratulations to Dr. Ioannis Verginadis, recipient of the 2023 FRPT Conference Best Abstract Award, titled "EARLY INFLAMMATION AND INTERFERON SIGNALING COORDINATE ENHANCED INTESTINAL CRYPT REGENERATION AFTER WHOLE ABDOMEN FLASH PROTON RADIOTHERAPY" 

*Congrats to Dr. Crystal Conn on receivng the 2024 Michael P. Nusbaum Graduate Student Mentoring Award!

The Michael (Mikey) P. Nusbaum Graduate Student Mentoring Award was established in 2017 to honor Mikey Nusbaum as he stepped down from his role as associate dean for graduate education and director of biomedical graduate studies.  This year’s recipient of the Michael P. Nusbaum Graduate Student Mentoring Award is Crystal S. Conn, an assistant professor of radiation oncology in the Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Conn has made substantial contributions to mentoring that have made a great impact on their students since they have been at Penn. Further, Dr. Conn’s dedication to being a role model for training advocacy, inclusivity, and mentoring students to reach their scholarly potential exemplifies the type of scientist and mentor that Mikey Nusbaum represents.

*Research would like to acknowledge the promotion of Yi Fan, MD, PhD, to Professor of Radiation Oncology in the Standing Faculty. 

*Congrats to George Morcos (Koumenis Lab) named a Thouron Scholar to pursue graduate studies in the UK!

George Morcos, from Rochester, New York, is majoring in biology with a concentration in molecular and cell biology, with minors in classical studies and nutrition in the College. As a University Scholar through the Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships, Morcos conducts research in the Koumenis Lab in Penn Medicine’s Department of Radiation Oncology. He is also a writing fellow at the Marks Family Center for Excellence in Writing and an advising fellow in the student club Matriculate, which provides mentorship to high school students. He is an undergraduate coordinator at the Heart Health Bridge to Care, an extension of the United Community Clinic of West Philadelphia focused primarily on management of hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. Morcos is an American Association of Cancer Research Undergraduate Scholar and has presented his work at national conferences. As a Thouron Scholar, Morcos plans to pursue a master’s degree in pathology, conducting basic and translational research on therapeutic toxicities in cancer, at the University of Cambridge in England.

*Congratulations to SUPERS Alum Shereen Aissi for receiving the Best Presentation Award in Medical Physics at the 2024 ANS Student Conference, for her paper titled, "Dosimetric Effect of 2 vs 3 Treatment Fields in Pencil Beam Scanning Proton Therapy Treatment Planning for Lung Cancer"; awarded by the American Nuclear Society. 

*Annual Yuhas Award was held on April 30, 2024 honoring Joann B. Sweasy, PhD. Dr. Sweasy gave the talk "DNA Repair Variants and Human Disease" to a full auditorium and then enjoyed a reception and award ceremony hosted by Dr. Metz. 
Drs. Sweasy, Metz, Koumenis

Research said goodbye to Dr. Rodney Wiersma, who was an Associate Professor in RadOnc Physics. Dr. Wiersma will be missed, but we are sure that his new home at UCLA will be warm and fulfilling. 

Winter/Spring

RadOnc would like to welcome Ioannis Verginadis, MSc, PhD to the department in his new role as Research Assistant Professor! 

Congratulations to Duo Zhang of the Fan lab on a successful dissertation defense!

We welcome Chris Heer to the division as the new Financial Administrative Coordinator. 

Summer/Fall

  • Congrats to Kyle Kim will now be a Research Specialist A and is joining the Verginadis Lab.
  • Congratulations to Ioannis Verginadis for receiving the Abramson Cancer Center’s ACS pilot grant!
  • Congratulations to Priyanka Chowdhury from the Koumenis Lab for receiving an RRS Travel Award!
  • RadOnc would like to welcome Shiva Shahrampour, PhD is our new Technical Director of CARC.
  • Welcome Nektarios Kostopoulos, Postdoctoral Researcher to the Koumenis lab and congratulations for successfully defending his thesis on 9/8/2023, titled “Radiation-Driven Cross Presentation and STING Activation Enhance CAR T Cell Therapy in a Murine Lymphoma Model”
  • Welcome Shawnaleh Cada, Research Specialist to the Koumenis Lab
  • Congratulations to Dr. Ioannis Verginadis for receiving the Best Abstract Award, titled: EARLY INFLAMMATION AND INTERFERON SIGNALING COORDINATE ENHANCED INTESTINAL CRYPT REGENERATION AFTER WHOLE ABDOMEN FLASH PROTON RADIOTHERAPY,  at the 2023 FRPT Conference. 

Spring

Congratulations to Menggui Huang, PhD, recipient of the Outstanding Poster Award given by The North American Vascular Biology Organization's annual conference. 

Congratulations to Dr. Christoforos Thomas who accepted a Research Assistant Professorship with The University of Houston beginning in February. 

Congratulations to Dr. Amit Maity who accepted a Chairmanship with the University of Utah Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine and the Huntsman Center beginning in June. 

News Flash: Constantinos Koumenis, PhD, the Richard H. Chamberlain Professor of Research Oncology, spoke about Penn Medicine recently being awarded a $12.3M NIH Grant to study ultra-fast, high-dose FLASH radiation therapy for cancer. Listen to the podcast here

Fall

Congratulations to Ioannis Verginadis, PhDAdjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology for receiving the 2 below awards!

  • Early Career Investigator (ECI) Travel Award at the Annual Meeting of the Radiation Research Society (RRS)
  • Best Abstract Award at the Flash Radiotherapy and Particle Therapy Conference (FRPT)

Winter/ Spring

Research has 2 Transdisciplinary Awards Program in Translational Medicine and Therapeutics from ITMAT awards to celebrate:
Ioannis Verginadis, PhD, PI on Pre-clinical studies on Proton FLASH Radiotherapy for treatment of orthotopic pancreatic tumors and sparing normal intestine tissues, a 2 year award of $150K
Yi Fan, PI on Novel nano-vasculotherapy to improve glioblastoma immunotherapy, a 2 year award of $150K

A big congratulations to Ioannis Verginadis, PhDSenior Research Investigator in Koumenis Lab for receiving the "Best Oral Presentation Award" at the 2021 Flash Radiotherapy & Particle Therapy Conference for his presentation, Preclinical Studies with Proton FLASH Radiotherapy: Biological Effects and Potential Mechanisms

 
Summer/Fall
 
Congratulations to: 
Ioannis Verginadis (Koumenis lab) for receiving the Early Career Investigator of the month award from the Radiation Research Society.
Zachary Lampluph for receveing an NIH T32 grant and to Duo Zhang for the American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship award, both from Fan lab.
Yi Fan  awarded a $2.4M NIH RO1 Grant for his study entitled “Endothelial plasticity in cardiac repair after myocardial infarction”.
 

The division would like to recognize the following promotions:

  • Keith Cengel, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiation Oncology in the Standing Faculty - Clinician Educator track
  • Andy J. Minn, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiation Oncology and Director of the Mark Foundation Center at Penn

Winter/Spring: 

It is with great enthusiasm that we welcome Crystal Conn, PhD as Assistant Professor-Tenure Track, to the Research Division of Radiation Oncology!
Dr. Conn started with us on Thursday, January 2, 2020. She most recently was a Postdoctoral Fellow at UCSF in the lab of Dr. Davide Ruggero, one of the premier groups internationally engaged in the study of translational control of gene expression in cancer. Dr. Conn’s research interests are centered on understanding the identifying adaptive stress responses that are translationally regulated, primarily in lung and prostate cancer, allowing for early detection of malignant disease with potential for new therapeutic applications. Her expertise in the salient features in translational control of gene expression, which is increasingly being appreciated as a major contributor to malignancies and immune system function, will enable her to interface with multiple groups within the RadOnc department, as well as the School of Medicine and beyond.

We would like to recognize Alexi Dreyfuss from the Koumenis Lab on graduating with her MD/ MTR. She defended her MTR Thesis based on work in the Koumenis lab. 

Summer/Fall:

Please join us in congratulating Theresa Busch, PhD on her appointment as the Radiation Oncology Department’s first Vice Chair for Inclusion, Diversity and Equity. This new role will both report to and work closely with the Department Chair to oversee, promote, and facilitate excellence in diversity, inclusion, equity and anti-racism efforts across all aspects of the department. The Vice Chair is responsible for creating and maintaining a culture that embraces inclusion and ensuring that all departmental policies and practices are grounded in the tenants of equity and anti-racism. Together with departmental leadership, the Vice Chair will examine our research, clinical and educational activities through the lens of diversity, equity and inclusion, and develop strategies to build a strong culture of anti-racism as well as metrics to measure the success of these strategies.

Congratulations to Ioannis Verginadis, Senior Research Investigator, on winning the Career Development Award from the Radiation Research Foundation on the project entitled “Delineating the role of STAT3 on normal tissue radioprotection and pancreatic tumor radiosensitization in a preclinical setting ”. This proposal is based on data generated in the past 2 years regarding the effects of focal radiotherapy on intestinal damage. Together with Dr. Constantinos Koumenis and Dr. Edgar Ben-Josef, Ioannis developed a novel, more clinically relevant mouse model of intestinal radiation injury based on precision, image-guided radiotherapy using the Small Animal Radiation Research Platform (SARRP). This model gives us the unique capability to fully mimic the clinical setting because we can study both irradiation(IR)-induced damage to the normal intestine and the impact of IR on orthotopic pancreatic tumor models in the same mice. The goal of this effort is to translate the findings into human clinical trials for early detection and therapeutic intervention of radiotherapy(RT)-induced intestinal toxicity. If the results are promising, Dr. Ben-Josef will initiate a clinical trial using the STAT3 inhibitor OPB-51602 combined with RT as a novel treatment for pancreatic tumors.

Congratulations to Dr. Gary Kao and Dr. Jay Dorsey for their participation in the paper entitled “Multi-block Discriminant Analysis of Integrative 18F-FDG-PET/CT Radiomics for Predicting Circulating Tumor Cells in Early Stage Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Treated with Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy”, which was an Award Winner at the Science Council Session of the 2020 American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). Authors of the paper: Sang Ho Lee, PhD, Gary D. Kao, MD, PhD, Steven J. Feigenberg, MD, Jay F. Dorsey, MD, PhD, Melissa A. Frick, MD, Samuel Jean-Baptiste, MD, Chibueze Z. Uche, PhD, Yong Fan, PhD, Ying Xiao, PhD

The division would like to recognize the following promotions: 

  • Meena Swaminathan, Director of Fiscal Operations
  • Christie Foti, Payroll and Onboarding Manager
  • Jenine Iannaccone, Grants Manager B
  • Yi Fan, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology in the Standing Faculty
  • Andy Minn, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiation Oncology in the Standing Faculty

Congratulations to Dr. Andy Minn, associate professor of Radiation Oncology and appointed director of the newly established Mark Foundation Center for Immunotherapy, Immune Signaling, and Radiation at the University of Pennsylvania. The $12 Million Grant will study the connection between radiation and immunotherapy. Read the News Release.
 
The Division would like to recognize Dr. Theresa Busch on her National Cancer Institute  R01  Titled: Photodynamic therapy with prior inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor to stimulate antitumor innate immune response
 
Congratulations to Dr. Andrea Facciabene on his promotion to Research Associate Professor!
 
Congratulations to Dr. Christoforos Thomas, member of Dr. Amit Maity's Lab, on for receiving a $50,000 Research Award from the PA Breast Cancer Coalition.
 
Congratulations to Dr. Yi Fan for receiving a 2019 Sharpe Award from National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS)
 
The Division would like to recognize Feven Tameire of the Koumenis Lab for receiving her Doctorate in Cancer Biology.

Congratulations to Dr. Yi Fan on receiving the Research Excellence Award from American Heart Association.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Yi Fan, along with Fan Lab in publishing the paper, Vascular niche IL-6 induces alternative macrophage activation in glioblastoma through HIF-2α, in the prestigious Nature Communications.

Congratulations to Dr. Yi Fan – the 2018 Springer Junior Investigator Award Recipient! He was awarded at the Vascular Biology 2018, where he presented his Springer Award lecture, "Wnt-mediated endothelial transformation into mesenchymal stem cell-like cells induces chemoresistance in glioblastoma" 

To Dr. Yi Fan for receiving 3 awards:
•Brain Cancer Investigator Award, B*Cured Foundation
•Young Investigator Award, Cancer Stem Cell Conference
•Innovative Project Award, American Heart Association

 

June 

Congratulations to Dr. Yi Fan for recently receiving the following two awards: the Sharpe Award from National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS) and the Early Career Investigator Award from the Radiation Research Society (RRS).

May 

Congratulations to Dr. Andrea Facciabene! He received an award at the Penn Center for Innovation Celebration for Innovation, held on May 3, 2017. Dr. Facciabene was honored for two US patents (# 9,289,426 and #9,290,556).  Respectively, these inventions involve Methods and compositions for treating solid tumors and enhancing tumor vaccines and Tumor vascular marker-targeted vaccines.

February 

Congratulations to all who received the Radiation Oncology Translational Center of Excellence (TCE) pilot awards!

  1. Using Radiation and Blockade of Interferon Signaling to Improve Durable Response to Immune Checkpoint Blockade Co-PIs: Andy Minn, MD, PhD (RadOnc) & Taku Kambayashi, MD, PhD, (Pathology and Laboratory Medicine) Co-I: E. John Wherry, PhD (Microbiology)
  2. PD-1 Blockade to Attenuate Surgery-Induced Immunosuppression during Intraoperative Photodynamic Therapy Co-PIs: Theresa Busch, PhD & Edmund Moon, MD (Medicine), Keith Cengel, MD, PhD Co-Is: Andrea Facciabene, PhD (RadOnc), Mary Putt, PhD, (Biostatistics and Epidemiology) & Sunil Singhal, MD (Surgery)
  3. Hypofractionated radiotherapy as a vaccine in combination with the TLR7/8 agonist resiquimod for metastatic melanoma Co-PIs: Amit Maity, MD, PhD (RadOnc),  George Xu, MD, PhD (Pathology and Laboratory Medicine), & Alain Rook, MD (Dermatology) Co-I: Andrea Facciabene, PhD (RadOnc)

The research division congratulates Dr. Theresa Busch and Dr. Zhiliang Cheng (Bioengineering) labs’ for their proposal entitled Mesothelin-targeted nanophotosensitizer for photodynamic therapy of TNBC selected by the Center for Targeted Therapeutics and Translational Nanomedicine (CT3N) for funding.

We also congratulate Natalie Daurio in Koumenis Lab for a successful doctoral dissertation defense on March 28, 2016. The title of her thesis was “Tamoxifen Mediated Metabolic Stress: Molecular Mechanism and Therapeutic Opportunities.”.

Congratulations to Dr. Gary Kao on the award of his R01 grant, Circulating Tumor Cells Analyses and Molecular Profiling for Patients Receiving Radiation Therapy, which was recently funded by the National Cancer Institute.

We also congratulate Dr. Stephen Avery on receiving R21 grant, Protoacoustics - Clinical Based Range Verification for Cancer Treatment. This project was funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.

Congratulations to Dr. Yi Fan was recently honored as a recipient of the 2016 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Judah Folkman Career Development Award for Angiogenesis Research. Dr. Fan was selected for this award based on the relevance of his research to the AACR’s mission and its expected impact in the field of cancer research.   This award recognizes Dr. Fan’s position as a burgeoning leader in cancer research.

The 2016 SUPERS program came to a close on Wednesday, August 3 with the end-of-the-program retreat where each of the fourteen SUPERS students presented a summary of their own hypothesis-driven research project.  Student projects included research in molecular radiobiology, photodynamic therapy, proton dosimetry and nuclear medicine and PET imaging.  In addition to their own hands-on lab experience, students took part in lectures and research discussions led by many of our faculty, as well as faculty from the departments of Radiology and Bioengineering. As the keynote speaker for the event, Dr. Michelle Alonso-Basanta from Penn Radiation Oncology described how her experiences as an undergraduate piqued her interest in a career as a clinician scientist. 2016 represented the 7th summer for the SUPERS program, to date SUPERS has graduated 80 alumni and the vast majority, nearly 90%, have gone on to graduate and/or medical school.

SUPERS students 20172016 SUPERS students pictured with Dr. Eve Higginbotham, Vice Dean for Inclusion and Diversity at the Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Higginbotham shared her own formative experiences as an undergrad while stressing the importance of diversity and inclusion to the future of research and medicine in the biomedical research community.

PDT: It's Not Just For People! - Check out this link for a story on how photodynamic therapy was recently used to treat Anita the horse for squamous cell cancer that surrounded both of her eyes.  Photodynamic therapy, or PDT as it is frequently called,  utilizes a light-sensitize drug and lasers to kill cancer cells.  Anita’s treatment was possible through the collaborative effort of Penn Medicine's Radiation Oncology and Penn Vet’s Large Animal Ophthalmology. PDT is studied for treating cancer in people by Radiation Oncology physicians, physicists, and scientists through a multidisciplinary grant that is funded by the National Institutes of Health.  It is currently under investigation through the Abramson Cancer Center for the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma in conjunction with surgery.

The Research Division congratulates Dr. Cameron Koch on receiving the Outstanding Research Award along with the late Dr. James Raleigh of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This award was presented by Members of the Tumor Microenvironment Research Community at the 14th International Tumor Microenvironment Workshop in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is in recognition of Dr. Koch’s contributions to the identification, characterization and targeting of the tumor microenvironment for the advancement of cancer therapy and patient care.

We congratulate Dr. Andy Minn as the recipient of the 2015 Scientific Research Award presented by the American Cancer Society in honor of his outstanding leadership and accomplishments among local cancer professionals.

Additionally, congratulations are in order for Dr. Yi Fan on receiving the McCabe Award from the Perlman School of Medicine for his work on targeting endothelial plasticity to treat brain tumors. 

At the recent departmental retreat, Drs. Minn and Fan were further recognized for their achievements through awards for the Radiation Oncology Innovation Award and the Radiation Oncology Young Investigator Award of Excellence, respectively. The Innovation Award was presented to Dr. Minn in recognition of his novel and creative contributions to the field of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Fan received the Young Investigator Award of Excellence as a new faculty member in department (< 3 years) who has shown exemplary performance in the area of clinical service, research or teaching.

Congratulations to Drs. Jay Dorsey and Yi Fan who individually received grants on NeuroOncology Innovation from the Neuro Translational Center of Excellence of the Abramson Cancer Center.  Dr. Dorsey is studying Glioma - derived Circulating Tumor Cells, while Dr. Fan’s proposal is on the topic of Development of Next-Generation Vasculotherapy by Targeting Vascular Transformation.  Finally, we recognize Dr. Fan on the success of his R01 grant Endothelial Plasticity in Glioma Vascularization and Therapy Resistance.   This award is expected to begin in October of 2015 and includes Radiation Oncology co-investigator Dr. Jay Dorsey.  This is Dr. Fan’s first R01 grant and the Division shares with him our hearty congratulations.

The Research Division congratulates Dr. Andy Minn on receiving the Michael S. Brown New Investigator Research Award. This award is given by the Perelman School of Medicine for the purpose of recognizing emerging investigators who are engaged in innovative discoveries. Dr. Minn was selected for this award based on his work in studying radiation and immune therapies as they relate to the biological basis of therapeutic cancer resistance.

Targeting stress induction of GRP78 by cardiac glycoside oleandrin dually suppresses cancer and COVID-19.  Ha DP, Shin WJ, Liu Z, Doche ME, Lau R, Leli NM, Conn CS, Russo M, Lorenzato A, Koumenis C, Yu M, Mumenthaler SM, Lee AS. Cell Biosci. 2024 Sep 6;14(1):115. doi: 10.1186/s13578-024-01297-3. PMID: 39238058

Early Inflammation and Interferon Signaling Direct Enhanced Intestinal Crypt Regeneration after Proton FLASH Radiotherapy.  Lim TL, Morral C, Verginadis II, Kim K, Luo L, Foley CJ, Kim MM, Li N, Yoshor B, Njah K, Putt M, Oliaei Motlagh SA, Velalopoulou A, Chowdhury P, Bicher S, Goia D, Lengner CJ, Wrana JL, Koumenis C, Minn AJ. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Aug 19:2024.08.16.608284. doi: 10.1101/2024.08.16.608284. PMID: 39229237

Combination anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 therapy generates waves of clonal responses that include progenitor-exhausted CD8+ T cells.  Wang K, Coutifaris P, Brocks D, Wang G, Azar T, Solis S, Nandi A, Anderson S, Han N, Manne S, Kiner E, Sachar C, Lucas M, George S, Yan PK, Kier MW, Laughlin AI, Kothari S, Giles J, Mathew D, Ghinnagow R, Alanio C, Flowers A, Xu W, Tenney DJ, Xu X, Amaravadi RK, Karakousis GC, Schuchter LM, Buggert M, Oldridge D, Minn AJ, Blank C, Weber JS, Mitchell TC, Farwell MD, Herati RS, Huang AC. Cancer Cell. 2024 Sep 9;42(9):1582-1597.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2024.08.007. Epub 2024 Aug 29. PMID: 39214097

Immunomodulatory Therapy for Ischemic Heart Disease.  Zhao X, Williamson T, Gong Y, Epstein JA, Fan Y. Circulation. 2024 Sep 24;150(13):1050-1058. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.124.070368. Epub 2024 Sep 23. PMID: 39325497 Review

The transformative potential of mRNA vaccines for glioblastoma and human cancer: technological advances and translation to clinical trials.  Tapescu I, Madsen PJ, Lowenstein PR, Castro MG, Bagley SJ, Fan Y, Brem S. Front Oncol. 2024 Sep 27;14:1454370. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1454370. eCollection 2024. PMID: 39399167 Review.

Singlet Oxygen in Photodynamic Therapy.  Cui S, Guo X, Wang S, Wei Z, Huang D, Zhang X, Zhu TC, Huang Z. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2024 Sep 26;17(10):1274. doi: 10.3390/ph17101274. PMID: 39458915 Free PMC article. Review.

Recovery of biological signals lost in single-cell batch integration with CellANOVA.  Zhang Z, Mathew D, Lim TL, Mason K, Martinez CM, Huang S, Wherry EJ, Susztak K, Minn AJ, Ma Z, Zhang NR. Nat Biotechnol. 2024 Nov 26. doi: 10.1038/s41587-024-02463-1. Online ahead of print. PMID: 39592777

Brown adipose tissue thermogenesis rhythms are driven by the SCN independent of adipocyte clocks.  Paschos GK, Lordan R, Hollingsworth T, Lekkas D, Kelch S, Loro E, Verginadis I, Khurana T, Sengupta A, Weljie A, FitzGerald GA. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Oct 28:2024.10.28.620609. doi: 10.1101/2024.10.28.620609. PMID: 39553928 Free PMC article. Preprint

TLR priming licenses NAIP inflammasome activation by immunoevasive ligands.  Grayczyk JP, Liu L, Egan MS, Aunins E, Wynosky-Dolfi MA, Canna SW, Minn AJ, Shin S, Brodsky IE. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Nov 26;121(48):e2412700121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2412700121. Epub 2024 Nov 18. PMID: 39556752

Local radiation enhances systemic CAR T-cell efficacy by augmenting antigen crosspresentation and T-cell infiltration.  Kostopoulos N, Costabile F, Krimitza E, Beghi S, Goia D, Perales-Linares R, Thyfronitis G, LaRiviere MJ, Chong EA, Schuster SJ, Maity A, Koumenis C, Plastaras JP, Facciabene A. Blood Adv. 2024 Dec 24;8(24):6308-6320. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2024012599. PMID: 39213422

Targeting peptide antigens using a multiallelic MHC I-binding system.  Du H, Mallik L, Hwang D, Sun Y, Kaku C, Hoces D, Sun SM, Ghinnagow R, Carro SD, Phan HAT, Gupta S, Blackson W, Lee H, Choe CA, Dersh D, Liu J, Bell B, Yang H, Papadaki GF, Young MC, Zhou E, El Nesr G, Goli KD, Eisenlohr LC, Minn AJ, Hernandez-Lopez RA, Jardine JG, Sgourakis NG, Huang PS. Nat Biotechnol. 2024 Dec 13. doi: 10.1038/s41587-024-02505-8. Online ahead of print. PMID: 39672954

Enhanced Accumulation and Penetration of Magnetic Nanoclusters in Tumors Using an 8-Magnet Halbach Array Leads to Improved Cancer Treatment.  Jang B, Amirshaghaghi A, Choi J, Miller J, Issadore DA, Busch TM, Cheng Z, Tsourkas A. ACS Nano. 2025 Jan 14;19(1):1794-1808. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.4c16600. Epub 2025 Jan 3.  PMID: 39749910

Correction of Multispectral Singlet Oxygen Luminescent Dosimetry (MSOLD) for Tissue Optical Properties in Photofrin-Mediated Photodynamic Therapy.  Yang W, Johnson M, Lu B, Sourvanos D, Sun H, Dimofte A, Vikas V, Busch TM, Hadfield RH, Wilson BC, Zhu TC. Antioxidants (Basel). 2024 Nov 28;13(12):1458. doi: 10.3390/antiox13121458.
PMID: 39765787

A Comprehensive Study of Reactive Oxygen Species Explicit Dosimetry for Pleural Photodynamic Therapy.  Sun H, Ong Y, Kim MM, Dimofte A, Singhal S, Cengel KA, Yodh AG, Zhu TC. Antioxidants (Basel). 2024 Nov 22;13(12):1436. doi: 10.3390/antiox13121436. PMID: 39765767

AAPM Task Group Report 274: Fluence rate dosimetry for photodynamic therapy (PDT).  Zhu TC, Pogue BW, Dimofte A, Finlay JC, Lilge L, Sunar U, Simone CB 2nd, van Veen RLP. Med Phys. 2025 Mar;52(3):1354-1371. doi: 10.1002/mp.17613. Epub 2025 Jan 15.PMID: 39815459 Free PMC article. Review.

Radiotherapy toxicities: mechanisms, management, and future directions.  Verginadis II, Citrin DE, Ky B, Feigenberg SJ, Georgakilas AG, Hill-Kayser CE, Koumenis C, Maity A, Bradley JD, Lin A. Lancet. 2025 Jan 25;405(10475):338-352. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(24)02319-5. Epub 2025 Jan 16. PMID: 39827884 Review.

Comprehensive reanalysis of light fluence distribution in pleural photodynamic therapy using standardized anatomical coordinates.  Sun H, Kim MM, Ong YH, Dimofte A, Singhal S, Busch TM, Cengel KA, Zhu TC. Photochem Photobiol. 2025 Jan 21. doi: 10.1111/php.14063. Online ahead of print. PMID: 39838651

Cardiorespiratory-gated cardiac proton radiotherapy using a novel ultrasound guidance system.  Cengel KA, Belal Z, Kim MM, Hagan S, Camps S, Kalinin A, Hsue W, Diffenderfer E, Garonna A, Tschabrunn C. Clin Transl Radiat Oncol. 2024 Dec 21;51:100904. doi: 10.1016/j.ctro.2024.100904. eCollection 2025 Mar. PMID: 39867728

FLASH proton reirradiation, with or without hypofractionation, reduces chronic toxicity in the normal murine intestine, skin, and bone. Verginadis II, Velalopoulou A, Kim MM, Kim K, Paraskevaidis I, Bell B, Oliaei Motlagh SA, Karaj A, Banerjee E, Finesso G, Assenmacher CA, Radaelli E, Lu J, Lin Y, Putt ME, Diffenderfer ES, Guha C, Qin L, Metz JM, Maity A, Cengel KA, Koumenis C, Busch TM.. Radiother Oncol. 2025 Jan 27:110744. doi: 10.1016/j.radonc.2025.110744. Online ahead of print. PMID: 39880309

FLASH radiation reprograms lipid metabolism and macrophage immunity and sensitizes medulloblastoma to CAR-T cell therapy.  Ni H, Reitman ZJ, Zou W, Akhtar MN, Paul R, Huang M, Zhang D, Zheng H, Zhang R, Ma R, Ngo G, Zhang L, Diffenderfer ES, Motlagh SAO, Kim MM, Minn AJ, Dorsey JF, Foster JB, Metz J, Koumenis C, Kirsch DG, Gong Y, Fan Y. Nat Cancer. 2025 Mar;6(3):460-473. doi: 10.1038/s43018-025-00905-6. Epub 2025 Feb 5. PMID: 39910249

ROR2 drives right ventricular heart failure via disruption of proteostasis.  Hartman H, Uy G, Uchida K, Scarborough EA, Yang Y, Barr E, Williams S, Kavar SL, Brandimarto J, Li L, Lai L, Griffin J, Yucel N, Shewale S, Rajagopal H, Eaton DM, Dorwart T, Bedi KC, Conn CS, Margulies K, Prosser B, Arany Z, Edwards JJ. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2025 Feb 2:2025.02.01.635961. doi: 10.1101/2025.02.01.635961. PMID: 39975092 Free PMC article. Preprint.

The radiogenomic and spatiogenomic landscapes of glioblastoma and their relationship to oncogenic drivers.  Fathi Kazerooni A, Akbari H, Hu X, Bommineni V, Grigoriadis D, Toorens E, Sako C, Mamourian E, Ballinger D, Sussman R, Singh A, Verginadis II, Dahmane N, Koumenis C, Binder ZA, Bagley SJ, Mohan S, Hatzigeorgiou A, O'Rourke DM, Ganguly T, De S, Bakas S, Nasrallah MP, Davatzikos C. Commun Med (Lond). 2025 Mar 1;5(1):55. doi: 10.1038/s43856-025-00767-0. PMID: 40025245

Lineage plasticity of the integrated stress response is a hallmark of cancer evolution.  Diao S, Zou JY, Wang S, Ghaddar N, Chan JE, Kim H, Poulain N, Koumenis C, Hatzoglou M, Walter P, Sonenberg N, Le Quesne J, Tammela T, Koromilas AE. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2025 Feb 13:2025.02.10.637516. doi: 10.1101/2025.02.10.637516. PMID: 39990365 Free PMC article. Preprint.

Analysis of Singlet Oxygen Luminescence Generated By Protoporphyrin IX.  Vikas V, Yang W, Wilson BC, Zhu TC, Hadfield RH. Antioxidants (Basel). 2025 Jan 31;14(2):176. doi: 10.3390/antiox14020176. PMID: 40002363 Free PMC article.

Marrow adipogenic lineage precursors (MALPs) facilitate bone marrow recovery after chemotherapy.  Wang H, Yao L, Zhong L, Fang J, He Q, Busch T, Cengel K, Qin L. Bone. 2025 Mar 6:117446. doi: 10.1016/j.bone.2025.117446. PMID: 40057216

Verification of dose and dose rate for quality assurance of spread-out-Bragg-peak proton FLASH radiotherapy using machine log files.  Oliaei Motlagh SA, Vander Stappen F, Kim MM, Labarbe R, Hotoiu L, Pin A, Nilsson R, Traneus E, Cengel KA, Zou W, Teo BK, Dong L, Diffenderfer ES. Med Phys. 2025 Apr 1. doi: 10.1002/mp.17792. Online ahead of print. PMID: 40170430

Incidence and Outcomes of Brain Metastasis in Pleural Mesothelioma in the Era of Immunotherapy.  Stalker M, Walker SL, Lebow E, Pai EL, Watts A, Hwang WT, Banihashemi A, Anderson E, Roshkovan L, Katz SI, Litzky L, Haas AR, Singhal S, Langer CJ, Cengel K, Marmarelis ME. JTO Clin Res Rep. 2025 Mar 10;6(5):100823. doi: 10.1016/j.jtocrr.2025.100823. eCollection 2025 May. PMID: 40255866

Salvage thoracic reirradiation for recurrent non-small cell lung cancer: Clinical efficacy and the impact of consolidative immunotherapy.  Rocchetti J, Yegya-Raman N, Iocolano M, Levin WP, Cengel KA, Bradley J, Feigenberg SJ, Friedes C. Radiother Oncol. 2025 Apr 27;208:110911. doi: 10.1016/j.radonc.2025.110911. Online ahead of print. PMID: 40300728

PD-1 Blockade Mitigates Surgery-Induced Immunosuppression and Increases the Efficacy of Photodynamic Therapy for Pleural Mesothelioma.  Cramer GM, Davis RW 4th, Papasavvas E, Klampatsa A, Miller JM, Carter S, Ikpe R, Yuan M, Widura S, Majumdar RS, McNulty S, Putt M, Kossenkov AV, Montaner LJ, Singhal S, Moon EK, Albelda SM, Cengel KA, Busch TM. Cancer Res Commun. 2025 May 1;5(5):841-856. doi: 10.1158/2767-9764.CRC-24-0571. PMID: 40331601

One Step Ahead: Preventing Tumor Adaptation to Immune Therapy. Braverman EL, Mognol GP, Minn AJ, Vignali DAA, Varner JA. Am Soc Clin Oncol Educ Book. 2025 Jun;45(3):e481556. doi: 10.1200/EDBK-25-481556. Epub 2025 May 7. PMID: 40334183 Review.

Combined immune checkpoint inhibitors and ablative radiotherapy in metastatic cancers: a meta-analysis of prospective clinical trials.  Urias E, Lee J, Weil CR, Roach E, Lloyd S, Hashibe M, Facciabene A, Maity A, Tao R. BMJ Oncol. 2025 May 7;4(1):e000732. doi: 10.1136/bmjonc-2025-000732. eCollection 2025. PMID: 40357050

Enhancing outcomes in medically inoperable early-stage NSCLC with gut-targeted antibiotics and stereotactic body radiotherapy: results from a randomized pilot study.  Feigenberg SJ, Costabile F, Tanes C, Bittinger K, O'Connor R, Agarwal D, Skoufos G, Salaris S, Hatzigeorgiou A, Kostopoulos N, Lloyd S, Friedes C, Chen L, Yegya-Raman N, Cengel K, Levin W, Valentić B, Quarton T, Shestov AA, Berman A, Bradley J, Maity A, Koumenis C, Ben-Josef E, Facciabene A. J Immunother Cancer. 2025 Jul 10;13(7):e011356. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2024-011356. PMID: 40639850 Clinical Trial.

Assessment of generic corrections for multiview Cherenkov emission during total skin electron therapy (TSET).
Zhu Y, Lu B, Byrd B, Chen L, Xiong E, Plastaras JP, LaRiviere M, Pogue BW, Zhu TC.
Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng. 2025 Jan;13299:1329905. doi: 10.1117/12.3046423. Epub 2025 Mar 19.
PMID: 40672133 Free PMC article.

Real-time dosimetry using scintillator technology in external beam radiation therapy (EBRT).  Lu B, Zhu Y, Byrd B, Alexander D, Plastaras JP, Li T, Chen L, Pogue BW, Zhu TC. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng. 2025 Jan;13309:1330909. doi: 10.1117/12.3048325. Epub 2025 Mar 20. PMID: 40671751 Free PMC article.

Understanding the impact of patient-specific geometries on Cherenkov emission-to-dose relationship during External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT).  Lu B, Byrd B, Zhu Y, Alexander D, Plastaras JP, Li T, Chen L, Pogue BW, Zhu TC. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng. 2025 Jan;13309:1330908. doi: 10.1117/12.3048321. Epub 2025 Mar 20. PMID: 40666077 Free PMC article.

Overcoming extracellular vesicle-mediated fratricide improves CAR T cell treatment against solid tumors.  Zhong W, Qin Z, Yu Z, Yang J, Yan D, Engel NW, Sheppard NC, Fan Y, Radhakrishnan R, Xu X, Ma L, Fuchs SY, June CH, Guo W. Nat Cancer. 2025 Jul;6(7):1157-1172. doi: 10.1038/s43018-025-00949-8. Epub 2025 Apr 15. PMID: 40234680

Physicochemical indication of the FLASH effect from shoot-through proton pencil beam scanning parameters delivered under ultra-high dose rates.  Friberg A, Tan HS, Diffenderfer E, Verginadis I, Kim MM, Cengel KA, Wiersma RD, Dong L, Koumenis C, Teo BK, Zou W. Phys Med Biol. 2025 Jul 29. doi: 10.1088/1361-6560/adf58e. Online ahead of print. PMID: 40730207

Comparative metabolomic analysis of human lung slices (hu-PCLS) exposed to either standard or FLASH protons: a pilot study.  Velalopoulou A, Mak TD, Deziel A, Kim MM, Koumenis C, Christofidou-Solomidou M, Laiakis EC. Radiat Oncol. 2025 Sep 2;20(1):138. doi: 10.1186/s13014-025-02714-8. PMID: 40898344

Primary Tumor Failure after Definitive Chemoradiation in Locally Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Brief Report on the Implications for NRG LU-008.  Friedes C, Yegya-Raman N, Iocolano M, Levin WP, Cengel KA, Bradley JD, Feigenberg SJ. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2025 Sep 16:S0360-3016(25)06276-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2025.09.016. Online ahead of print. PMID: 40967373

Authors' View-FLASH Radiation: A Game-Changer in Pediatric Brain Tumor Treatment?  Reitman ZJ, Fan Y. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2025 Nov 1;123(3):848-851. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2025.04.036. PMID: 40998483 No abstract available.

Preface to the Special retirement issue dedicated to Herbert G. Stepp.  Zhu TC, Greer A. Photochem Photobiol. 2025 Sep-Oct;101(5):1099. doi: 10.1111/php.70023. PMID: 41002118 No abstract available.

Microenvironmental regulation of solid tumour resistance to CAR T cell therapy.  Lamplugh ZL, Wellhausen N, June CH, Fan Y. Nat Rev Immunol. 2025 Oct 14. doi: 10.1038/s41577-025-01229-3. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41087553 Review.

Real World Radiographic Response Rates and Preoperative Attrition in Patients With Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Treated With Neoadjuvant Chemoimmunotherapy.  Friedes C, Iocolano M, Yegya-Raman N, Kucharczuk JC, Pechet TTV, Cohen RB, Aggarwal C, Marmarelis ME, Levin WP, Cengel KA, Ciunci CA, D'Avella C, Singh AP, Davis CW, Langer CJ, Bradley J, Feigenberg SJ. Am J Clin Oncol. 2025 Nov 10. doi: 10.1097/COC.0000000000001260. PMID: 41198094

Four New Muscle Myosin II Binding Properties of Titin: Implications for Myofibrillogenesis.  Chowrashi P, Mittal B, Fan Y, Ma Z, Wang J, Sanger JM, Sanger JW. Cytoskeleton (Hoboken). 2025 Nov 13. doi: 10.1002/cm.70063. PMID: 41230616

An early-stage 3D fibroblast-featured tumor model mimics the gene expression of the naïve tumor microenvironment, including genes involved in cancer progression and drug resistance.  Costabile F, George S, Facciabene A, Filaci G, Mastrogiacomo M. Front Oncol. 2025 Oct 27;15:1572315. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1572315. eCollection 2025. PMID: 41220928