Researcher

Title

• Principal Investigator, CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center (2023)
• Assistant Research Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Université de Montréal (2023)

• Postdoctoral Fellow – Institute for Cancer Genetics, Columbia University, NY, NY (2017-2022)
• PhD – Clinical Research Institute of Montreal (IRCM), McGill University, Faculty of Medicine, Division of Experimental Medicine (2010-2016)
• BSc – McGill University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biochemistry (2007-2010)

The overarching goal of my research program is to dissect the metabolic and molecular circuitries in ETP-ALL, and to propose novel targets for the treatment of these high-risk patients.

• T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL)
• Early T-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ETP-ALL)
• Metabolism of acute leukemia
• Therapies

Career Summary

Marissa Rashkovan completed her PhD in Experimental Medicine at McGill University, studying T-cell development in the lab of research director Tarik Möröy at the IRCM. She then joined the lab of Dr Adolfo Ferrando at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York. During her postdoctoral fellowship, Marissa Rashkovan focused on Early T-cell Precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ETP-ALL) and the role of cholesterol biosynthesis in this high-risk leukemia.

The researcher joined the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center in 2023, where her lab will focus on characterizing the metabolic vulnerabilities of leukemia.

Awards and Distinctions

• 2019: Damon Runyon-Jake Wetchler Award for Pediatric Innovation
• 2017-2021: Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Oncology Postdoctoral Fellowship
• 2016: International Society for Experimental Hematology (ISEH) New Investigator Award (Greg Johnson Award)
• 2016: International Society for Experimental Hematology (ISEH) Travel Award
• 2015: McGill Medstar Award for Trainees (AWK Akerley Award) 
• 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012: IRCM Research Day Presentation Awards
• 2015: Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) Travel Award 
• 2015: AACR Women in Cancer Research Scholar Award
• 2015: Graduate Excellence Award, Université McGill, Faculté de médecine
• 2014: Graduate Research Enhancement and Travel Award, Université McGill, Faculté de médecine 
• 2012: Cole Foundation Poster Award 
• 2012: Gerald B. Price Travel Award, Université McGill, Faculté de médecine
• 2011-2013: Cole Foundation Fellowship
• 2010, 2011: Provost’s Graduate Fellowship, Université McGill, Faculté de médecine

Publications

Rashkovan M, Albero R, Gianni F, Perez-Duran P, Miller HI, Mackey AL, Paietta EM, Tallman MS, Rowe JM, Litzow MR, Wiernik PH, Luger S, Sulis ML, Soni RK, Ferrando AA. Intracellular cholesterol pools regulate oncogenic signaling and epigenetic circuitries in Early T-cell Precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Cancer Discovery. 2022 Mar 1;12(3):856-871. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-21-0551. PMID: 34711640; PMCID: PMC8904296.

Montefiori L, Bendig S, Gu Z, Chen X, Polonen P, Ma X, Murison A, Zeng A, Garcia-Prat L, Dickerson K, Iacobucci I, Abdelhamed S, Hiltenbrand R, Mead PE, Mehr CM, Xu B, Cheng Z, Chang TC, Westover T, Ma J, Stengel A, Kimura S, Qu C, Valentine MB, Rashkovan M, Luger S, Litzow MR, Rowe JM, Den Boer ML, Wang V, Yin J, Kornblau SM, Hunger SP, Loh ML, Pui CH, Yang W, Crews KR, Roberts KG, Yang JJ, Relling MV, Evans WE, Stock W, Paietta EM, Ferrando AA, Zhang J, Kern W, Haferlach T, Wu G, Dick JE, Klco JM, Haferlach C, Mullighan CG. Enhancer hijacking drives oncogenic BCL11B expression in lineage ambiguous stem cell leukemia. Cancer Discovery. 2021 Jun 8; candisc.0145.2021. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-21-0145.

Laura Belver, Alexander Y Yang, Robert Albero, Daniel Herranz, Francesco G Brundu, S. Aidan Quinn, Pablo Perez-Duran, Silvia Alvarez, Francesca Gianni, Marissa Rashkovan, Devya Gurung, Pedro P Rocha, Ramya Raviram, Clara Reglero, Jose R Cortes, Anisha J Cooke, Agnieszka A Wendorff, Valentina Cordo, Jules P. Meijerink, Raul Rabadan and Adolfo A. Ferrando (2019). Gata3-controlled nucleosome eviction drives Myc enhancer activity in T-cell development and leukemia. Cancer Discovery. 2019;9(12):1774‐1791.

Marissa Rashkovan and Adolfo Ferrando (2019). Metabolic dependencies and vulnerabilities in leukemia. Genes and Development. 33.

Ross J*, Rashkovan M*, Fraszczak J, Joly Beauparlant C, Vadnais C, Winkler R, Droit A, Kosan C, Möröy T (2019). Deletion of the Miz-1 POZ domain increases efficacy of cytarabine treatment in T- and B-ALL/lymphoma mouse models. Cancer Research. August 15 2019 (79) (16) 4184-4195.

Wendorff AA, Quinn SA, Rashkovan M, Madubata CJ, Ambesi-Impiombato A, Litzow MR, Tallman MS, Paietta E, Paganin M, Basso G, Gastier-Foster JM, Loh ML, Rabadan R, Van Vlierberghe P, Ferrando AA (2019). Phf6 loss enhances HSC self-renewal driving tumor initiation and leukemia stem cell activity in T-ALL. Cancer Discovery. Mar;9(3):436-451.

Fraszczak, J, Vadnais, C, Rashkovan, M, Ross, J, Beauchemin, H, Chen, R, Grapton, D, Khandanpour, C, Möröy, T (2019). Reduced expression but not deficiency of GFI1 causes a fatal myeloproliferative disease in mice. Leukemia. 33: 110-121.

Marissa Rashkovan, Charles Vadnais, Julie Ross, Mathieu Gigoux, Woong-Kyung Suh, Wei Gu, Christian Kosan and Tarik Möröy (2014). Miz-1 regulates translation of Trp53 via ribosomal protein L22 in cells undergoing V(D)J recombination. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 111(50): E5411-E5419.

Christian Kosan, Marissa Rashkovan, Julie Ross, Anna-Maria Schaffer, Ingrid Saba, Wafaa Lemsaddek, Marie Trudel, Tarik Möröy (2014). The transcription factor Miz-1 is required for embryonic and stress-induced erythropoiesis but dispensable for adult erythropoiesis. Am J Blood Res; 4(1): 7-19.

Bastien, JP, Krosl, G, Therien, C, Rashkovan, M, Scotto, C, Cohen, S, Allan, DS, Hogge, D, Egeler, RM, Perreault, C, and Roy, DC (2010). Photodepletion differentially affects CD4+ Tregs versus CD4+ effector T cells from patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease. Blood; 116: 4859 – 4869.