Julie Schwarz, MD, PhD, presented her research in Paphos, Cyprus on November 1, 2024. Her abstract: The combination of radiation therapy (RT) and immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) increases anti-tumor immunity; however, not all patients and tumors respond to this combination. RT has well known immune suppressive effects including stimulating the expression of chemokines and cytokines […]
Author: michellel
Mafra presents at 2024 Cancer Research Symposium
Ana Carolina Paschoalini Mafra, PhD, Postdoc Research Associate in the Schwarz Lab, presented cervical cancer research on November 1, 2024 at the Cancer Research Symposium held at Washington University in St. Louis.
Robinson, Schwarz recognized by radiation oncology society (Links to an external site)
Acknowledged for contributions to the field, they have been named fellows of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). Click to read full article.
METEORITE teaching session to CancerBio PhD students
Stephanie Markovina, MD, PhD inspired cancer biology PhD students by teaching them about radiation therapy and how to perform clinically relevant preclinical studies.
Markovina awarded NIH R01
Stephanie Markovina, MD, PhD, METEOR Clinical Trial and Project 1 Co-l (Cervix) Lead has been awarded an R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health in the amount of $2,865,128. Her work is entitled “The role of SERPINB3 in cervical cancer therapeutic resistance”.
RRS Presentations 2024
Click to view photos – Jin, Matt, Trevor and Rohil present their work at the Radiation Research Society Meeting in Tucson, AZ – September, 2024
TARGET Center well represented at RRS
Radiation Research Society (RRS) has its 70th annual international meeting in September 2024. The WashU TARGET Center has multiple speakers and session chairs. S08: Medicine/Biomarkers: Matthew Inkman presenting TR 04: ROBIN Educational component – Stephanie Markovina, Chair S11: ROBIN Evolution of Radiation Response – Julie Schwarz, Chair, Jin Zhang and Trevor Zimmerman presenting
Markovina and Contreras awarded an NIH R37 MERIT
Stephanie Markovina, MD, PhD, METEOR Clinical Trial and Project 1 Co-l (Cervix) Lead, and Jessika Contreras, MD have been awarded an R37 MERIT grant from the National Institutes of Health in the amount of $3,182,644. Their work is entitled, “Accelerated Brachytherapy Forward Chemoradiation Therapy (ABC-RT) for Cervical Cancer”.
Schwarz and Robinson recognized by radiation oncology society (Links to an external site)
Julie Schwarz, MD, PhD and Cliff Robinson, MD both received FELLOW designations from radiation oncology society ASTRO, and will be formally recognized in Washington, DC in October, 2024.
Waters joins WashU and METEOR; awarded grant
In July, 2024, Michael Waters, MD, PhD, joined the faculty of WashU Medical and joined the METEOR team. He also received a grant award from the WashU Gap Fund for $50,000 to support translational work for technology. His title is “Convolutional Neural Network Classification of Pretreatment Biopsies of Rectal Adenocarcinoma Predicts Complete Clinical Response to Short-Course Radiation and Consolidation Chemotherapy”.
Markovina awarded Siteman Investment Program grant (Links to an external site)
Stephanie Markovina, MD, PhD, has been awarded a SIP grant towards her work in cervical cancer research. Her project title is “Targeting SERPINB3 to Improve Both Tumor and Immune Response in Cervical Cancer”
Dr. Sher featured speaker at Clinical Trials Bootcamp
In April, 2024, Dr. David Sher, Vice Chair of Clinical Operations & Quality and Medical Director Chief of Head & Neck Radiation Oncology at University of Texas Southwestern, was our featured speaker for the Clinical Trials Bootcamp. His talk was entitled, “Precision H&N Radiotherapy: Technology to Biology”.
New leadership role for Dr. Markovina
Stephanie Markovina, MD, PhD, has been named the Director of Resident Research for the Clinical Residency Program in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine.
Trainee Corner – Aaron Silvus, MS (Links to an external site)
Learn more about one of our Medical Physics PhD Program students – Aaron Silvus, in our Trainee Corner interview.
Li receives $3.2M R01 grant award
Hua Li, PhD, has been awarded an R01 from the NIH for $3,260,592 over 5 years for her work entitled “Combined Imaging and RNA Analyses to Develop Cervical Cancer Biomarkers”
Zhang awarded second R01 in one year
Jin Zhang, PhD, has been awarded an NCI R01 Research Project Grant in the amount of $1,663,760 over a period of 5 years. The title of his work is “Integrating multi-omics, imaging, and longitudinal data to predict radiation response in cervical cancer”. This is the second R01 grant Dr. Zhang has been awarded during 2023.
Robinson receives Dean’s Impact Award
Cliff Robinson, MD has been selected to receive a 2024 Dean’s Impact Award from Washington University School of Medicine! This award recognizes faculty who have demonstrated enduring commitment to advancing the careers of others through exceptional mentorship and/or sponsorship. SO well deserved – congrats from your team!
Schwarz named Danforth WashU Physician-Scientist Scholar (Links to an external site)
Julie K. Schwarz, MD, PhD, a highly regarded radiation oncologist known for her innovative mindset in treating patients and leading research to develop new treatments for deadly gynecologic cancers and heart conditions, has been named a William H. Danforth Washington University Physician Scholar.