marascolab.dana-farber.orgMarasco Lab - Treatment of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Cancer - Home

WHO WE ARE Principal Investigator Deputy Director Researchers Alumni Research COVID-19 Cancer Immunotherapy Emerging Infectious Diseases Antibody Engineering Regenerative Med/Adult Stem Cell Biol Humanized Mice News Publications Join us Contact Welcome to the Marasco Laboratory Help the Marasco lab make discoveries against COVID-19 We are running a COVID-19 Protective Immunity Study (CPIS, DFCI IRB protocol 20-201) and asking healthcare workers, cancer patients, or otherwise healthy individuals who recovered from COVID-19 infection to consider participating in this study. We plan to enroll 150 volunteers during and shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic period. This study will help us to better understand the key factors that influences human immune responses to the SARS-CoV2, as well as developing novel, effective and durable broad-spectrum SARS-CoV vaccines. This is an opportunity for researchers and volunteers working together to help improve the health of future generations. Joining the COVID-19 Protective Immunity Study is simple. Click this link ( https://j.mp/3flblXr ) and provide contact info if you are interested. A research nurse will contact you with more information. For detailed information, please read the COVID-19 Protective Immunity Study – Recruitment Literature . For our clinician colleagues, we would greatly appreciate your help to make cancer patients who have recovered from COVID-19 infections aware of this study. Making major scientific advances in the treatment of emerging infectious diseases and cancer The Marasco Laboratory is located in the Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Our general research interests are in the field of targeted immunotherapy. The Lab’s work has made major scientific advances in the treatment of infectious diseases and cancer. More recently, we have been developing humanized mice to support our targeted immunotherapy studies and to investigate the roles of human adult stem cells in regenerative medicine. Specifically, the Lab’s research interests are in human monoclonal antibody (Mab) immunotherapy and broad-spectrum anti-viral vaccine development. We use human Mabs in functional and structural studies to understand mechanisms of viral entry, identify common targets that provide broad-spectrum protection, and develop strategies that prevent the viruses from undergoing neutralization escape. Vaccinated/infected humans and humanized mice are the B-cell sources of antibody genes for these studies. Our discoveries of common and highly conserved structural elements on the envelope glycoproteins that serve as cross-neutralizing targets for Mab therapy have allowed us to make therapeutic inroads into the prevention and treatment of a wide range of human pathogenic coronaviruses, flaviviruses, and influenza A viruses. The Marasco Laboratory has advanced therapeutic Mab development through NIH-NIAID product development programs in the areas of SARS, West Nile virus, and Influenza A infections. The Lab’s pioneering studies in influenza, which resulted in our finding of a "universal" vaccine target that can provide broad-spectrum protection against a wide range of influenza A viruses, has led to a paradigm shift in the field of influenza immunotherapy and vaccine development. Our National Foundation of Cancer Research (NFCR) Center for Therapeutic Antibody Engineering (CTAE) at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is working in a broad range of discovery and translational research in cancer. We have the tools, know-how and expertise to advance our novel immunotherapy discoveries from bench to bedside. We have a major effort in constructing and improving humanized mice (a.k.a. humouse ) and in improving their performance and utility in different biomedical research applications. Our internal research programs are in the areas of human B cell development, optimizing vaccines against infectious agents (influenza A, HIV-1, Denge) and human antibody immunotherapy. We are also using these humanized mice for investigations related to adult stem cell biology and regenerative medicine which are now becoming central efforts in the laboratory. For more details, please visit www.humanized-mouse.org .​ Support the Marasco Lab HOME | WHO WE ARE | RESEARCH | NEWS | JOIN US | CONTACT ©2016 Marasco Lab at Dana-Farber Cancer...