The Lawler Lab

Selected Publications

  1. Calvao DJ, Vecchio F, Ocitti M, Schmidt A, Shub M, Viapiano M, Lawler SE, Hoffman-Kim D. A Brain Cancer Microtissue Model for Studying Tumor Cell Behavior and Cancer-Neuroimmune Interactions, Sci Rep 2025;15:36021.
  2. Cheng VWT, Vaughn-Beaucaire P, Shaw GC, Kriegs M, Droop A, Psakis G, Mittelbronn M, Humphries M, Esteves F, Hayes J, Cockle JV, Knipp S, Rohwedder A, Ismail A, Rominiyi O, Collis SJ, Mavria G, Samarasekara J, Ladbury JE, Ketchen S, Morton R, Fagan S, Tams D, Myers K, McGarrity-Cottrell C, Dunning M, Boissinot M, Michalopoulos G, Prior S, Lam YW, Morrison EE, Short SC, Lawler SE, Brüning-Richardson A. ARHGAP12 and ARHGAP29 exert distinct regulatory effects on switching between two cell morphological states through GSK-3 activity. Cell Rep 2025;44:115361
  3. Jimenez-Macias JL, Vaughn-Beaucaire P, Bharati A, Xu Z, Forrest M, Hong J, Sun M, Schmidt A, Clark J, Hawkins W, Mercado N, Real J, Huntington K, Zdioruk M, Nowicki MO, Cho CF, Wu B, Li W, Logan T, Manz KE, Pennell KD, Fedeles BI, Brodsky AS, Lawler SE. Modulation of blood-tumor barrier transcriptional programs improves intra-tumoral drug delivery and potentiates chemotherapy in GBM. Science Advances 2025;11:eadr1481

  1. Mercado NB, Real JN, Kaiserman J, Panagioti E, Cook CH, Lawler SE. Clinical implications of cytomegalovirus in glioblastoma progression and therapy. NPJ Precis Oncol 2024;8:213
  2. Vaughn-Beaucaire P, Choi MJ, Liang O, Lawler SE. Intracranial CAR-T cell delivery in glioblastoma patients. Trends Cancer 2024;10:478-80

  1. Koch MS, Zdioruk M, Nowicki MO, Hoetker MS, Barone F, Tak PP, Herbert Z, Chiocca EA, Tabatabai G, Lawler SE. Characterizing transcriptomic landscape alterations of CAN-2409 in vitro and in vivo. Front Med 2023;10:1140352
  2. Zdioruk M, Jimenez-Macias JL, Nowicki MO, Manz KE, Pennell KD, Koch MS, Finkelberg T, Wu B, Boucher P, Takeda Y, Li W, Piranlioglu R, Ling AL, Chiocca EA, Lawler SE. PPRX-1701, a nanoparticle formulation of 6′-bromoindirubin acetoxime, improves delivery and shows efficacy in preclinical GBM models. Cell Rep Med 2023;4:101019

  1. Jimenez-Macias JL, Lee YC, Miller E, Finkelberg T, Zdioruk M, Berger G, Farquhar CE, Nowicki MO, Cho CF, Fedeles BI, Loas A, Pentelute BL, Lawler SE. A Pt(IV)-conjugated brain penetrant macrocyclic peptide shows pre-clinical efficacy in glioblastoma. J Control Release 2022;352:623-36
  2. Yao Y, Wang J, Liu Y, Qu Y, Wang K, Zhang Y, Chang Y, Yang Z, Wan J, Liu J, Nakashima H, Lawler SE, Chiocca EA, Cho CF, Bei F. Variants of the adeno-associated virus serotype 9 with enhanced penetration of the blood-brain barrier in rodents and primates Nat Biomed Eng. 2022. doi: 10.1038/s41551-022-00938-7
  3. Koch MS, Zdioruk M, Nowicki MO, Griffith AM, Aguilar-Cordova E, Aguilar LK, Guzik BW, Barone F, Tak PP, Schregel K, Hoetker MS, Lederer JA, Chiocca EA, Tabatabai G, Lawler SE. Perturbing DDR signaling enhances cytotoxic effects of local oncolytic virotherapy and modulates the immune environment in glioma. Mol Ther Oncolytics 2022;26:275-88
  4. Berger G, Knelson EH, Nowicki MO, Han S, Jimenez-Macias J-L, Lizotte PH, Adu-Berchie K, Stafford A, Dimitrakakis N, Chiocca EA, Mooney DJ, Barbie DA, Lawler SE. STING activation promotes robust immune response and NK cell-mediated tumor regression in glioblastoma models. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2022;119:e2111003119.
  5. Koch MS, Zdioruk M, Nowicki MO, Griffith AM, Aguilar-Cordova E, Aguilar LK, Guzik BW, Barone F, Tak PP, Tabatabai G, Lederer JA, Chiocca EA, Lawler SE. Systemic high-dose dexamethasone treatment may modulate the efficacy of intratumoral viral oncolytic immunotherapy in glioblastoma models. J Immunother Cancer 2022;10:e003368
  6. Cytomegalovirus & glioblastoma: solving the riddle Open Access Government March 2022
  7. Rethinking Cancer as a Molecular and Cellular Ecosystem. Open Access Government November 2022

  1. Krenzlin H, Zdioruk M, Nowicki MO, Finkelberg T, Keric N, Lemmermann N, Skubal M, Chiocca EA, Cook CH, Lawler SE. Cytomegalovirus infection of glioblastoma cells leads to NF-κB dependent upregulation of the c-MET oncogenic tyrosine kinase. Cancer Lett 2021;513:26-35
  2. von Spreckelsen N, Fadzen CM, Hartrampf N, Ghotmi Y, Wolfe JM, Dubey S, Yang BY, Kijewski MF, Wang S, Farquhar C, Bergmann S, Zdioruk M, Wasserburg JR, Scott B, Murrell E, Bononi FC, Luyt LG, DiCarli M, Lamfers MLM, Ligon KL, Chiocca EA, Viapiano MS, Pentelute BL, Lawler SE*, Cho CF. Targeting glioblastoma using a novel peptide specific to a deglycosylated isoform of brevican, Adv Ther (Weinh) 2021;4(4):2000244. (co-corresponding author)
  3. Immunotherapy for brain tumors. Open Access Government March 2021

Invited Talks and Presentations

  1. Designing new therapies for glioblastoma. END2Cancer Conference. University of Oklahoma Cancer Center, December 2025.
  2. Designing new therapies for glioblastoma. University of Sevilla, Spain, November 2025
  3. Glioblastoma Biology and Therapy. Math Meets Life Workshop, Brown University, March 2025. Meeting co-organizer
  4. Modulation of the tumor microenvironment in glioblastoma. Legorreta Cancer Center Immunotherapy Retreat, Brown University, February 2025
  5. Local Immunostimulatory Therapies for Glioblastoma: Preclinical and clinical experiences. 10th Annual Innovative Approaches to Brain Tumor Management. Seattle Science Foundation, January 2025
  6. Targeting the Blood Tumor Barrier for Brain Tumor Therapy BIBC Symposium, Michigan, December 2024
  7. CMV and its role in GBM. Legorreta Cancer Cancer Center Annual Retreat, Brown University, November 2024
  8. Pre-clinical modeling of drug delivery and immunotherapies in glioblastoma, AACR Annual Meeting 2024. Session Chair and organizer. Therapeutic Advances in Malignant Glioma.
  9. Preclinical Modeling for Improved Drug Delivery and Therapeutic Approaches in GBM. Duke University Brain Tumor Center, March 2024
  10. Modulation of the blood-tumor barrier for improved drug delivery in glioblastoma. Abstract accepted for talk. 28th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neurooncology, Vancouver, Canada. November 2023
  11. Developing new approaches for the treatment of brain cancer – from the BBB to CMV. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Tulane University School of Medicine, October 2023
  12. Exploring the tumor vasculature for therapeutic vulnerabilities in glioblastoma. Advances in Medical Research KC2023, Kansas City VA Hospital, Kansas City KS, October 2023
  13. Cytomegalovirus as a driver of progression and treatment resistance in glioblastoma. ICBTRT Brain Tumor Meeting, Kiawah Island SC, March 2023
  14. Pre-clinical studies in murine glioblastoma models. 2nd Annual Glioblastoma Summit, Hanson-Wade, Boston MA. March 2023
  15. The role of cytomegalovirus in glioblastoma growth and therapy. Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, Dept of Microbiology and Immunology, Dept of Neuroscience and Physiology. November 2022
  16. Improving drug delivery for brain cancer therapy. NIGMS P41 QE-MAP Annual Symposium & Workshop, Michigan State University, Lansing MI August 2022

The Lawler Lab

Contact us

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨