Improving immune surveillance in high-risk Multiple Myeloma patients

Description

Dr. Francesca Cottini is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Hematology at the Ohio State University and IMS member since 2020. She is a physician scientist with clinical and research expertise in Multiple Myeloma (MM). She mastered translational and basic research as a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School in the laboratory of Dr. Kenneth Anderson and then as a clinical Fellow at OSU. Her laboratory research combines MM biology and immunology to focus on the identification and validation of novel therapeutical targets, while her clinical research aims at defining strategies to improve the safety of autologous stem cell transplant or anti-MM therapies. Her proposal stems from the discovery of CD56 signaling as a novel therapeutic approach in high-risk MM. Her project proposes to study the role of CD56 signaling by CREB1 in MM and its relationship with Natural Killer cell immunity. This knowledge will lead to science-driven clinical trials and improve outcomes in patients with MM, reducing toxicities and hospital costs.