Anastasia Iris Karkempetzaki is a Ph.D. student at the University of Crete Medical School in Greece. Her graduate studies, conducted in the Department of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the United States under the co-supervision of Drs. Tobias Schatton and Steven Barthel, focus on the galectin family of carbohydrate binding proteins in cancer. Her research project mechanistically dissects melanoma versus immune cell-galectin-9 regulation, functions, targeting, and translational significance in cancer immunotherapy.
Dr. Tobias Schatton is an Associate Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School (HMS), Research Associate and Co-Director of the Program of Glyco-Immunology and Oncology (PGIO) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is also a Research Associate at Boston Children’s Hospital, Faculty Affiliate of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and Member of the Melanoma Program at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. He received his Pharm.D. from the University of Frankfurt, Germany, and his Ph.D. in cancer biology from the University of Würzburg, Germany, based on research conducted at HMS. Dr. Schatton’s laboratory research centers on cell lineage-specific variations in immune checkpoint biology, cytokine networks, trafficking determinants, and glycobiological mediators of skin cancer progression. His overarching objective is to develop new treatment modalities for melanoma and other skin cancers. These include novel immune checkpoint inhibitor regimens, homing receptor antagonists, and galectin and glycan targeting strategies.
Dr. Steven R. Barthel is an Assistant Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and a Research Associate and Co-Director of the Program of Glyco-Immunology and Oncology (PGIO) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). He is also a Faculty Affiliate of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Member of the Melanoma Program, Invasion and Metastasis Group at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, and an Investigator for the Consortium for Functional Glycomics (CFG). He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison on integrin-mediated leukocyte adhesion, migration, and signaling in inflammation. He subsequently trained as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Dermatology, Harvard Skin Disease Research Center at HMS, BWH investigating glycan, selectin, and integrin-dependent rolling, adhesion, migration, and metastatic dissemination of cancer cells to bone and skin. He custom-engineered innovative galectin-Fc fusion proteins to dissect galectin binding glycoreceptor functions in immune cell subsets as well as melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers. Dr. Barthel’s current research focuses on new strategies for optimizing cancer therapy via the targeting of melanoma and immune cell glycoproteins, including integrins, galectins, and immune checkpoint receptors.
