Active
- Position
- Service Assistant Professor, Director of Translational Laboratory Shared Service, WVU Cancer Institute Administration
- Phone
- 304-293-0723
John Maringa Githaka, PhD
Dr. Githaka’s project develops a next generation patient derived organoid (PDO) platform to better understand how KRAS mutant non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) interacts with the tumor microenvironment (TME) to drive therapy resistance. It directly aligns with the TME CoBRE Mechanisms Program by focusing on tumor stroma interactions, particularly the role of cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and extracellular matrix (ECM) components in shaping treatment response.
The research establishes a biobank of clinically annotated KRAS mutant lung cancer organoids that incorporate patient matched CAFs, preserving native tumor stroma signaling. Using this system, the project integrates drug screening with multi omics analyses to identify both tumor intrinsic and microenvironment-dependent resistance mechanisms, including cytokine signaling and anti-apoptotic pathways.
By comparing organoid drug responses with actual patient outcomes, the platform aims to uncover actionable tumor stroma dependencies and improve prediction of therapeutic response. Ultimately, this work advances physiologically relevant TME models and supports the development of precision combination therapies targeting both cancer cells and their microenvironment, which are core goals of the TME CoBRE initiative.
- Positions
- Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Oncology
- Member, WVU Cancer Institute Research Programs
- Phone
- 304-598-4500
Konstantinos Sdrimas, MD
Dr. Sdrimas research focuses on understanding how the bone marrow tumor microenvironment (TME) supports the progression and treatment resistance of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). They are developing scalable, high-resolution single-cell and spatial profiling approaches to map cellular interactions within the bone marrow niche, with a particular emphasis on rare, therapy-resistant cell populations.
By combining fixed-tissue single-cell RNA sequencing with novel single-cell chromatin conformation (Hi-C) techniques, they aim to simultaneously characterize gene expression and 3D genome organization in leukemia cells and their surrounding stromal and hematopoietic partners. The approach uniquely preserves spatial architecture while enabling the analysis of thousands of distinct microenvironmental niches from a single patient sample.
This work will generate a comprehensive, multi-omic map of the AML tumor microenvironment, revealing how leukemia cells exploit specific niches to survive, evade therapy, and drive relapse. Ultimately, the goal is to identify microenvironment-driven mechanisms of resistance and uncover new therapeutic targets that disrupt leukemia-supportive niches.
Graduate
- Positions
- Assistant Professor, Medicine
- Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience
- Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Oncology
- Assistant Professor, Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (SOM)
- Member, WVU Cancer Institute Research Programs
- Phone
- 304-598-4500
- Positions
- Adjunct AssociateProfessor, Microbiology, Immunology & Cell Biology
- Member, WVU Cancer Institute Research Programs
- Phone
- 304-293-0567
- Position
- Assistant Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Phone
- 304-293-0279
- Positions
- Associate Professor, Surgical Oncology, Surgery
- Adjunct Associate Professor, Microbiology, Immunology & Cell Biology
- Member, WVU Cancer Institute Research Laboratories
- Member, WVU Cancer Institute Research Programs
- Phone
- 304-293-2428
- Positions
- Assistant Professor, Microbiology, Immunology & Cell Biology
- Member, WVU Cancer Institute Research Programs
- Phone
- 304-293-3104
- Positions
- Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience
- Member, WVU Cancer Institute Research Programs
- Phone
- 304-581-1760
