Interactions and Collaborators
The Cervical Cancer SPORE is a highly interactive and multidisciplinary program incorporating four projects and three cores. All Projects are led by at least three investigators whose interest and knowledge span basic and clinical areas. In addition, investigators are frequently involved in more than one Project, demonstrating the extent of collaborations between investigators across several Project areas.
For example:
Dr. Reinhard Kirnbauer from MUV and Dr. Richard Roden from JHU, experts in VLPs and L2 immunology, are teamed with Drs. Robert Garcea and Ted Randolph, experts in vaccine formulation, along with clinical collaborations in CP-CTNet in Project 1.
Dr. Chien- Fu Hung, a molecular immunologist, collaborates with Drs. Rebecca Arend and Kimberly Levinson, gynecologic oncologists, in Project 2.
Dr. Roden interacts with Dr. Levinson, as well as Dr. Warner Huh, a gynecologic oncologist, and Dr. Hung in Project 3.
Dr. TC Wu, an expert in vaccines, immunology, and HPV pathology, works with Drs. Stéphanie Gaillard and Trey Leath, both gynecologic oncologists, in Project 4.
The complementary expertise in both clinical areas and basic areas enhances translational potential and facilitates the achievement of the SPORE’s goals.
Finally, all Projects take advantage of a single Biostatistics/Bioinformatics Core (Core B) led by Dr. Hao Wang at JHU and Dr. Sejong Bae at UAB, both experienced biostatisticians, with Dr. Leslie Cope, a leading bioinformatician, as well as Dr. Heba Mostafa at JHU, with practical experience in clinical assay validation and CLIA.
The Tissue/ Pathology/Immunology Core (Core C) is led by Dr. Russell Vang, a gynecologic pathologist (JHU), Dr. Raphael Viscidi, a virologist specializing in the study of HPV (JHU), Dr. Andrea Kahn, a surgical pathologist (UAB), and Dr. Rebecca Arend, a gynecologic oncologist (UAB). Core C provides consistent specimen and data handling and analysis between Hopkins and UAB. Core C will also provide expertise for tissue-based immunological assays for Projects 2, 3, and 4 of the SPORE program, which involve the acquisition of tissue samples from the trial patients and execution of FEST studies by Dr. Kellie Smith. These common cores provide consistency and economy amongst the projects, and further foster collaboration within the program and between different institutions.
