Research Department of Immuno-Oncology

Head of the Department — Elza Lomaia, MD, PhD.

Major tasks

  • To study the biology of leukemic cells in hematological malignancies.

  • To identify factors predicting the effectiveness of targeted therapy.

  • To study the effect of immunological and genetic markers on drug resistance and progression of the disease.

  • To develop algorithms for leukemia diagnosis and treatment in order to improve the overall survival of patients and their quality of life.

  • To edit T cells and NK cells for cancer treatment.

  • To improve the outcomes of treatment of embryonal CNS tumors in high-risk children through personalized therapy based on the study of the molecular and genetic profile using next-generation sequencing.

  • To create a personalized model of the immune microenvironment in myeloproliferative diseases.

  • To identify immunological prognostic markers that contribute to early treatment intensification.

  • To determine immunotherapy targets.

  • To create new approaches aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of existing immunotherapy drugs and establish more precise criteria for their rational use.

Focus areas

  • Determining molecular and genetic characteristics of embryonal CNS tumors.

  • Identifying prognostically unfavorable alterations in embryonal CNS tumors.

  • Determining the possibilities of targeted therapy based on the molecular and genetic profiling in children with embryonal CNS tumors.
  • Evaluating the effectiveness of metronomic chemotherapy combined with mTOR inhibitors in patients with relapsed and refractory embryonal CNS tumors.

  • Studying the biology of leukemic cells in hematological malignancies, identifying factors predicting the effectiveness of targeted therapy.

  • Studying the effect of immunological and genetic markers on drug resistance and progression of the disease.

  • Developing algorithms for leukemia diagnosis and treatment in order to improve the overall survival of patients and their quality of life.

Project description

The study of immunological, molecular and genetic biomarkers of myeloid neoplasms in order to personalize therapy based on the identified determinants.

Structure

Specialists

  • Elza Lomaia, MD, PhD, Head of the Department
  • Konstantin Bogdanov, PhD in Biology, Leading Researcher                  
  • Larisa Girshova, MD, PhD, Senior Researcher 
  • Yulia Mirolyubova, Researcher
  • Yulia Rogovaya, Junior Researcher
  • Tamara Chitanava, Junior Researcher
  • Ekaterina Klimenko, Research Assistant
  • Anastasia Reshetova, Research Assistant   
  • Aleksina Shatilova, Research Assistant
  • Yulia Yakovleva, Research Assistant

Projects

The Research Department of Immuno-Oncology implements seven projects aimed at solving the following tasks:

1) Study of immunological markers as predictors of response to tyrosine kinase inhibitors and therapeutic targets in myeloproliferative diseases.

2) Study of the immune landscape of acute leukemia to create an individual immunological profile of the patient for profile-based personalized therapy.

3) Development of methods for improved effectiveness and safety of haploidentical bone marrow transplantation based on the study of the characteristics of immune recovery and adaptive cellular immune technologies.

4) Creation of a platform for the expansion of the most effective subpopulations of CAR NK cells through rational stimulation of surface receptors.

5) Solving the challenges of CAR T/NK cell therapy, increasing the resistance of CAR T cells to the tumor microenvironment and correcting chemotaxis.

6) Creation of dual CAR-CAR-T combination recognizing two antigens.

Improvement of the outcomes of treatment of embryonal CNS tumors in high-risk children through personalized therapy based on the study of the molecular and genetic profile using next-generation sequencing.

Major publications

Patents and inventions

Contacts

Elza Lomaia, Head of the Department
tel.: +7 (921) 385-06-50
e-mail: lomelza@gmail.com