I study how the tumor microenvironment restrains optimal antigen processing and presentation by cancer cells thereby limiting adaptive anti-tumor immunity. 

Publications

Bi J, Witt E, McGovern MK, Cafi AB, Swetha Tunuguntla SN, Cotoia AT, Raygoza Garay JA, Balk KR, Boge L, Hatfield S, Courtney R, Du J, Chan CHF, Huang Y, Voltarelli VA, Smith MG, Mailloux A, Bosch DE, Tift MS, Otterbein LE, Traverso G, Byrne JD. Potentiating the effect of immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer using gas-entrapping materials. Biomaterials. 2025 Jun;317:123097. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2025.123097. Epub 2025 Jan 8. PMID: 39799699; PMCID: PMC11788032.

Coleman MF, Cotul EK, Pfeil AJ, Devericks EN, Safdar MH, Monteiro M, Chen H, Ho AN, Attaar N, Malian HM, Kiesel VA, Ramos A, Smith M, Panchal H, Mailloux A, Teegarden D, Hursting SD, Wendt MK. Hypoxia-mediated repression of pyruvate carboxylase drives immunosuppression. Breast Cancer Res. 2024 Jun 7;26(1):96. doi: 10.1186/s13058-024-01854-1. PMID: 38849928; PMCID: PMC11161980.

Silva, E. E., Moioffer, S. J., Hassert, M., Berton, R. R., Smith, M. G., van de Wall, S., Meyerholz, D. K., Griffith, T. S., Harty, J. T., & Badovinac, V. P. (2024). Defining Parameters That Modulate Susceptibility and Protection to Respiratory Murine Coronavirus MHV1 Infection. Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950), 212(4), 563–575. https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.2300434

Bi, J., Witt, E., Voltarelli, V. A., Feig, V. R., Venkatachalam, V., Boyce, H., McGovern, M., Gutierrez, W. R., Rytlewski, J. D., Bowman, K. R., Rhodes, A. C., Cook, A. N., Muller, B. N., Smith, M. G., Ramos, A. R., Panchal, H., Dodd, R. D., Henry, M. D., Mailloux, A., Traverso, G., … Byrne, J. D. (2023). Low-Cost, High-Pressure-Synthesized Oxygen-Entrapping Materials to Improve Treatment of Solid Tumors. Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany), 10(10), e2205995. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202205995

Awards and Honors

Immunology T-32 Pre-Doctoral Training Grant (2022-2024)