We study the role of tumor metabolic adaptation in disrupting tissue homeostasis, resulting in immune suppression and T-cell exclusion from the microenvironment. Additionally, we investigate how specialized CD4+ T-cell subsets, such as Tregs and Tfh, interact with B cells (as professional antigen presenting cells) and CD8+ T cells and shape the adaptive immune response to cancer.
We primarily study these mechanisms in solid tumors, where the immune system and the neoplastic disease are two distinct tissue entities, and also test their relevance in B-cell lymphomas, where the tumor arises within the immune system itself. The ultimate goal of the Zappasodi lab is to determine new effective modalities for controlling key tumor immune evasion mechanisms and overcoming immunotherapy resistance.
Figure 1
Schematic representation of research questions: (1) How does tumor metabolism contribute to tumor immune tolerance? (2) How can we modulate CD4+ T cells to potentiate the immune response to cancer?
Biography
Roberta Zappasodi is Assistant Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM, New York, NY), faculty member of the Immunology & Microbial Pathogenesis Weill Cornell Graduate Program, Lippmann & McCarthy Research Scholar in Breast Cancer at Weill Cornell, and Member Researcher in the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.
Her lab studies mechanisms of T-cell regulation suppressing the immune response against cancer, with the goal of devising new modalities to counteract these mechanisms for improving the activity of immunotherapy.
Dr. Zappasodi holds a PhD in Tumor Immunology/Immunotherapy from the National Cancer Institute of Milan (Italy). She was a PICI Scholar and Bridge Fellow during her postdoc at Memorial Sloan Kettering (New York, NY) and in her transition to WCM.
Distinctions:
AACR Women in Cancer Research Scholar Award
Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Bridge Fellow Award
ISSNAF IBM-Bio4Dreams Award
Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award
Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Scholar Award
Zappasodi, R., Sirard, C., Li, Y., Budhu, S., Abu-Akeel, M., Liu, C., Yang, X., Zhong, H., Newman, W., Qi, J., Wong, P., Schaer, D., Koon, H., Velcheti, V., Hellmann, M. D., Postow, M. A., Callahan, M. K., Wolchok, J. D., & Merghoub, T. (2019). Rational design of anti-GITR-based combination immunotherapy.Nature medicine, 25(5), 759–766. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0420-8
