News


Makowski lab receives R01 from NCI to study genetic variants in breast cancer.

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We are happy to announce that Liza Makowski was awarded an R01 from the NCI which scored a 2%. The proposal is entitled “Determining susceptibility loci in triple negative breast cancer using a novel pre-clinical model.” Co-investigators Drs. Rob Williams, Lu Lu, D. Neil Hayes, and David Ashbrook at UTHSC and Dr. Carey Anders at… Read More

Mehdi Chaib awarded F31NRSA Pre-doctoral Fellowship award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI)

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Mehdi Chaib, graduate student in Makowski Lab, was awarded a 3 year F31 predoctoral NRSA fellowship from the NCI in Dec of 2021. His proposal entitled “PKC agonism restricts innate immune suppression and promotes antigen cross-presentation in Triple Negative Breast Cancer” scored a 3%. We are so proud of him! Congratulations!

Excited to share our new manuscript led by Mehdi Chaib in Cancer Letters on PKC agonism

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Makowski lab graduate student Mehdi Chaib has published “PKC agonism restricts innate immune suppression, promotes antigen cross-presentation and synergizes with agonistic CD40 antibody therapy to activate CD8 + T cells in breast cancer” in Cancer Letters (here). Congratulations Mehdi! Highlights: •PKC agonism suppresses murine breast cancer tumor growth in vivo. •PKC agonism impairs MDSC expansion, trafficking, and suppressive… Read More

Laura Sipe awarded F32 NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI)

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Dr. Sipe, a postdoctoral fellow in the Makowski Lab, was awarded an F32 postdoctoral fellowship award from the NCI entitled “The role of bile acids to ameliorate obesity driven triple negative breast cancer.” Congratulations Laura! We are so proud.

Medhi Chaib invited to speak at AACR2021

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Makowski lab graduate student @MehdiChaib was invited to give an oral presentation and poster on his project about reprogramming the immunosuppressive microenvironment in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) in the Mini symposia session Identifying the puppet master cells that orchestrate the tumor microenvironment at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2021 annual meeting. Congrats Mehdi! 

Laura Sipe presenting AACR-funded project on identifying genetic modifiers of TNBC

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Makowski lab postdoctoral fellow Dr. Laura Sipe @LauraSipe3 presented her poster on using the BXD recombinant inbred model to identify genetic modifiers of triple negative breast cancer at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2021 annual meeting. Congrats Laura! 

Mehdi Chaib invited to speak Keystone eSymposia.

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Mehdi Chiab, graduate student in the Makowski lab, was awarded a registration stipend and was invited to give a small talk at the prestigious Keystone Symposia – Myeloid Cells and Innate Immunity in Solid Tumors in Sept of 2020 (virtually due to COVID). He was grateful to meet many leaders in the field through 1:1… Read More

Bon Voyage Ajeeth

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Makowski Lab said goodbye to Ajeeth in a socially distant picnic in Health Sciences Park in October 2020. Good luck in Beantown! 

Liza Makowski and Joe Pierre receive MPI R01 funded by the NCI

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Press Release HERE UTHSC Researchers Collaborate on $2 Million Grant To Study Immune System and Triple Negative Breast Cancer Written by Communications and Marketing | September 2, 2020 Dr. Liza Makowski Liza Makowski, PhD, a professor in the Department of Medicine-Hematology-Oncology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and Joseph F. Pierre, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department… Read More

Bon Voyage to our undergraduate assistant Emily Korba!

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Emily has worked in the Makowski lab for 2 years! Thank you so much for all of your contributions! Happy graduation and we wish you success in medical school!