Funding:

Active Funding:

  • NIH/NINDS R01; “Pharmacologic targeting of NR4A1 and NR4A2 to activate glioblastoma treatment response”; (Robert Rostomily, lead PI, Andrei Mikheev, Steven Safe -TAMU, co-PIs).

  • NIH/NCI U01; “Influence of pre-analytical factors in glioblastoma MGMT promoter methylation biomarker assay”; (Robert Rostomily Co-PI, Karol Bomsztyk UW Co-PI).

  • NIH/NCI R01; Systematic identification of astrocyte-tumor crosstalk regulating brain metastatic tumors; (Stephen Wong and Hong Zhao co-PIs; Robert Rostomily Co-Investigator).

  • GCC- Gulf Coast Consortium John S, Dunn Collaborative Grant; Mapping the bHLH-EMT transcription factor phosphoproteome to identify kinase targets in glioblastoma stem cells; (Robert Rostomily, PI; Bing Zhang BCM, Co-PI).

  • CPRIT-Cancer Prevention and Research Initiative of Texas; Leveraging Glioma Stem Cell Electrophysiology for Therapy; (Robert Rostomily PI, Francois St. Pierre and Ben Arenkiel BCM, Co-Investigators).

  • CPRIT-Cancer Prevention and Research Initiative of Texas; IDH1 mutant vaccine for treatment of GBM; (Robert Rostomily PI).

  • Golfers Against Cancer; Treatment of GBM with novel dual NR4A1/2 antagonists to overcome TMZ and immune checkpoint resistance; (Robert Rostomily & Steve Safe, PI’s; Andrei Mikheev & Shu-hsia Chen, Co-PI’s).

  • Golfers Against Cancer; Repurposing of DYRK1A inhibitors for GBM treatment; (Andrei Mikheev and Robert Rostomily, Co-PIs). Houston Methodist Foundation; TSPO PET imaging of brain metastases; (Rostomily PI).

Recently Completed:

  • CPRIT-Cancer Prevention and Research Initiative of Texas; Development of a mini-pig glioma model and validation of human clinical relevance (Rostomily and Horner co-PIs).

  • NIH/NINDS R01; Therapeutically Relevant Targets of TWIST1 Dimers in Glioma; (Robert Rostomily PI).

  • CPRIT-Cancer Prevention and Research Initiative of Texas; A Novel Organoid Platform to Modulate Human Neural Networks Integrated with Glioblastoma Stem Cells (Robert Krencik PI, Rostomily Co-Investigator).

  • Neuro SPARK; Neuro-restoration of treatment induced myelin injury in a preclinical glioma model (Rostomily and Horner Co-PIs).

News:

New Funding:

  • In collaboration with Dr. Steven Safe at TAMU the lab recently received a new NIH/NINDS R01 grant entitled “Pharmacologic targeting of NR4A1 and NR4A2 to activate glioblastoma treatment response”. The proposal focuses on reprogramming the immune suppressive tumor microenvironment and EMT related treatment resistance using novel small molecular inhibitors of NR4A1 and NR4A2 in syngeneic mouse GBM models.
  • In collaboration with Dr. Safe (TAMU), the lab was awarded funding through Golfers Against Cancer (GAC) to study the impact of NR4A1/2 pharmacologic inhibition to enhance the impact of standard TMZ and XRT therapy in human GSC xenograft models.
  • Dr. Rostomily and collaborator Dr. Bing Zhang from Baylor College of Medicine were awarded the Gulf Coast Consortium John S, Dunn Collaborative Grant for their project enititled “Mapping the bHLH-EMT transcription factor phosphoproteome to identify kinase targets in glioblastoma stem cells”. The bHLH transcription factors (TFs) are considered undruggable. Therefore, this project will perform comprehensive phosphoproteomic analyses to identify druggable kinases that promote site-specific oncogenic and pro-EMT phosphorylation.

Congratulations:

  • Andrei and Svetlana et al recently had their paper, “Novel TCF4:TCF12 heterodimer inhibits glioblastoma growth” published in Molecular Oncology. This work describes their discovery of a novel bHLH TCF4:TCF12 heterodimer that binds to E-Box recognition sites and competitively inhibits the oncogenic functions of TWIST1 dimers. Mikheeva SA, Funk CC, Horner PJ, Rostomily RC, Mikheev AM. Novel TCF4:TCF12 heterodimer inhibits glioblastoma growth. Mol Oncol. 2023 Jul 28. doi: 10.1002/1878-0261.13496. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37507199.

  • In collaboration with our lab Dr. Jesus Cruz-Garza from the Faraji lab published a manuscript “Magnetic Resonance-Guided Stereotaxy for Infusions to the Pig Brain” J Vis Exp 2023 Mar 31:(193) doi: 10.3791/64079. This provides methodology to perform stereotactic injections or implantations into the pig brain in real time under real-time MRI guidance.

Welcomes:

  • Ana Gutierrez recently graduated from Texas Tech and has joined the Rostomily and Horner labs. She will take on a central role in the Neural Biorepository and synergistic studies in both labs related to the large animal GBM models and targeting NR4A1/2 in glioma and spinal cord injury.

  • Matthew Shorey has been accepted into the NeuralCODR post-doctoral fellowship program and will work under the mentorship of Dr. Francois St. Pierre (BCM). He will continue his project to develop a multiplexed high-throughput screen using Genetically Engineered Voltage Indicators (GEVIs) and cell cycle reporters (FUCCI and p27) to identify ion channel drugs that coordinately modulate resting membrane potential (Vmem) and cell cycle states in glioma stem cells (GSCs).

ETC…:

  • Drs Rostomily and Stephen Wong served as co-editors of a completed Special Issue in Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694, IF 6.16) “Systems Biology and Intra-Tumoral Heterogeneity” that focused on Systems Biology approaches that addressed clinical implications and complexities of intra-tumoral heterogeneity.

  • Two “Oncoslice” publications. In collaboration with the Folch lab at the UW we recently published on the technical development and translational application of the microfluidic drug delivery device using xenograft and patient derived cancer slice cultures.

  • “A Microfluidic Platform for Functional Testing of Cancer Drugs on Intact Tumor Slices.” Lab Chip 20, no. 9 (May 7 2020): 1658-75. https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c9lc00811j.

  • “Multiplexed Drug Testing of Tumor Slices Using a Microfluidic Platform.” NPJ Precis Oncol 4 (2020): 12. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41698-020-0117-y.

  • See the story behind the paper here: https://cancercommunity.nature.com/posts/a-marriage-of-tumor-slices-and-microfluidics? badge_id=620-npj-precision-oncol

  • Book chapter: Congrats to Monika Vishnoi et al for their comprehensive treatise on the basic biology of brain metastasis and for lab alumnus, Rohan Ramakrishna, on editing this authoritative book. Vishnoi M, Scranton RA, Asante SK, Rostomily RC. (2020) Basic Biology of Brain Metastasis. In: Ramakrishna R., Magge R., Baaj A., Knisely J. (eds) Central Nervous System Metastases. Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-42958-4_2

Presentations:

  • Congrats to Monika Vishnoi, PhD whose abstract “Matrisome Signatures in GBM Heterogeneity” was selected for presentation as a Short Talk at the Keystone Symposia on Proteomics in Cell Biology and Disease, September 21, 2020.

Moving On:

  • Congrats to Oluwaseun Ogunbona MD/PhD (“Seun”). Seun completed his research component of his Neuropathology training and has taken a position as an Assistant Professor of Neuropathology at UT Health San Antonio.

  • Arvind Pandey completed his post-doctoral training and has been a research instructor position in the Helekar lab of the PEAK Cancer Center to investigate mechanisms that drive responses to onco magnetic treatments in glioma.