Education & Training
- B.S., Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Bucknell University- 2010
- Ph.D., Molecular Virology and Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh- 2016
Research Interest Summary
Research Categories
Research Interests
Our research group focuses on understanding how immune cells make cell fate decisions, how intercellular communication influences these cell fate decisions, and the ways in which cell-cell interactions shape community dynamics in the tumor microenvironment.
i) Computational approaches: developing, validating, and implementing computational tools to study cell-type specific drivers of differentiation and intercellular communication in vitro and in vivo;
ii) Mechanistic models: development of in vitro models focused on dissecting specific aspects of cellular differentiation and intercellular communication;
iii) Translational studies: applying high-dimensional approaches including spectral flow cytometry, single-cell multi-omics and spatial transcriptomics as part of translational studies in patients with solid tumors.
Through the approaches described above, we are defining the contributions of individual immune populations to antitumor immunity as well as their aggregate behavior within the tumor microenvironment. Better understanding the individual and community dynamics of immune populations will allow us to dissect why current immunotherapies fail in some patients and it will enable identification of new therapeutic strategies to promote antitumor immunity.
Representative Publications
Cillo AR, Mukherjee E, Bailey NG, Onkar S, Daley J, Salgado C, Li X, Liu D, Ranganathan S, Burgess M, Sembrat J, Weiss K, Watters R, Bruno TC, Vignali DAA, Bailey KM. Ewing Sarcoma and Osteosarcoma Have Distinct Immune Signatures and Intercellular Communication Networks. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 Nov 14;28(22):4968-4982. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-1471. PubMed PMID: 36074145; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9669190.
Somasundaram A, Cillo AR, Lampenfeld C, Workman CJ, Kunning S, Oliveri L, Velez M, Joyce S, Calderon M, Dadey R, Rajasundaram D, Normolle DP, Watkins SC, Herman JG, Kirkwood JM, Lipson EJ, Ferris RL, Bruno TC, Vignali DAA. Systemic Immune Dysfunction in Cancer Patients Driven by IL6 Induction of LAG3 in Peripheral CD8+ T Cells. Cancer Immunol Res. 2022 Jul 1;10(7):885-899. doi: 10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-20-0736. PubMed PMID: 35587532; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10286228.
Cillo AR, Somasundaram A, Shan F, Cardello C, Workman CJ, Kitsios GD, Ruffin AT, Kunning S, Lampenfeld C, Onkar S, Grebinoski S, Deshmukh G, Methe B, Liu C, Nambulli S, Andrews LP, Duprex WP, Joglekar AV, Benos PV, Ray P, Ray A, McVerry BJ, Zhang Y, Lee JS, Das J, Singh H, Morris A, Bruno TC, Vignali DAA. People critically ill with COVID-19 exhibit peripheral immune profiles predictive of mortality and reflective of SARS-CoV-2 lung viral burden. Cell Rep Med. 2021 Dec 21;2(12):100476. doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2021.100476. Epub 2021 Dec 2. PubMed PMID: 34873589; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8636386.
Chuckran CA, Cillo AR, Moskovitz J, Overacre-Delgoffe A, Somasundaram AS, Shan F, Magnon GC, Kunning SR, Abecassis I, Zureikat AH, Luketich J, Pennathur A, Sembrat J, Rojas M, Merrick DT, Taylor SE, Orr B, Modugno F, Buckanovich R, Schoen RE, Kim S, Duvvuri U, Zeh H, Edwards R, Kirkwood JM, Coffman L, Ferris RL, Bruno TC, Vignali DAA. Prevalence of intratumoral regulatory T cells expressing neuropilin-1 is associated with poorer outcomes in patients with cancer. Sci Transl Med. 2021 Dec 8;13(623):eabf8495. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abf8495. Epub 2021 Dec 8. PubMed PMID: 34878821; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9022491.
Ruffin AT#, Cillo AR#, Tabib T, Liu A, Onkar S, Kunning SR, Lampenfeld C, Atiya HI, Abecassis I, Kürten CHL, Qi Z, Soose R, Duvvuri U, Kim S, Oesterrich S, Lafyatis R, Coffman LG, Ferris RL, Vignali DAA, Bruno TC. B cell signatures and tertiary lymphoid structures contribute to outcome in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Nat Commun. 2021 Jun 7;12(1):3349. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23355-x. PubMed PMID: 34099645; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8184766.
# co-first authors
Overacre-Delgoffe AE, Bumgarner HJ, Cillo AR, Burr AHP, Tometich JT, Bhattacharjee A, Bruno TC, Vignali DAA, Hand TW. Microbiota-specific T follicular helper cells drive tertiary lymphoid structures and anti-tumor immunity against colorectal cancer. Immunity. 2021 Dec 14;54(12):2812-2824.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2021.11.003. Epub 2021 Dec 2. PubMed PMID: 34861182; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8865366.
Cillo AR, Kürten CHL, Tabib T, Qi Z, Onkar S, Wang T, Liu A, Duvvuri U, Kim S, Soose RJ, Oesterreich S, Chen W, Lafyatis R, Bruno TC, Ferris RL, Vignali DAA. Immune Landscape of Viral- and Carcinogen-Driven Head and Neck Cancer. Immunity. 2020 Jan 14;52(1):183-199.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2019.11.014. Epub 2020 Jan 7. PubMed PMID: 31924475; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7201194.