Jonathan M. Irish, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University. The Irish lab uses bench and computational cytometry techniques to study how signaling controls cell identity in healthy human tissues, cancer, and immune disorders. Jonathan trained at Stanford University with Garry Nolan (PhD) and Ronald Levy (postdoc) and was a pioneer in the use of phospho-flow cytometry to reveal and characterize risk-stratifying blood cancer cells. The Irish lab at Vanderbilt has adapted the immunologist’s single cell toolkit to study human tissue and tumors, including neural stem cells and brain cancers. In addition to the discovery of clinically significant cancer cell subsets, Jonathan and the Irish lab have developed widely-used computational tools and algorithms, including Cytobank, MEM, RAPID, and T-REX. Jonathan is also active in the International Society for Advancement of Cytometry (ISAC) and is Scientific Director of Vanderbilt’s Cancer & Immunology Core (CIC).

Dr. Vera Donnenberg is an Associate Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh with a secondary appointment in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the School of Pharmacy. She is an Affiliate to the Council of Faculty and Academic Societies for the Association of American Medical Colleges (CFAS-AAMC), where she served as a member of the Administrative Board. She also served as a Regent of the Board of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP) and currently serves as an Ambassador to the Eurasian Hematology Oncology Group, an international organization that promotes oncology research and clinical interventions in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Americas.

Dr. Donnenberg earned her MS in Clinical Pharmacology in 1994 from Johns Hopkins University and her Ph.D. with Honors in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2002 from the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Donnenberg’s research focuses on: 1.) Tumorigenic stem cells in lung cancer, esophageal cancer, and breast cancer; 2.) Pleural metastases; 3.) Therapeutic resistance; 4.) Interaction of tumor cells and regenerating tissue; 5.) Lung immunology; and 6.) Pleural immuno-oncology.

Dr. Donnenberg has written over 395 publications, abstracts, book chapters, and other scientific presentations.  Throughout her career she has received numerous awards for her academic and service efforts including the Nathaniel Kwitt Distinguished Service Award from the ACCP (2020), the Marylou Ingram Woman in Science Award from the Coulter Foundation, the Governor’s Distinguished Citizenship Award, Maryland, and the Service Award from the National Society of Black Engineers.  She is a member of several editorial boards including the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and is an Associate Editor of Cytometry, Stem Cells, a leading journal in the field of imaging and cytometry, and served as the first female President of the Great Lakes Flow Cytometry Association.

Dr. Albert Donnenberg is a Professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine and Professor of Infectious Disease and Microbiology in the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh. In addition to research activities, Dr. Donnenberg is Director of both the UPMC and the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC Hematopoietic Stem Cell Laboratories. He is also a member of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and a member of the Graduate Faculty of the Cellular and Molecular Pathology Training Program.  In addition, he is the Director of Cellular Therapy of the UPMC Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Center.

Dr. Donnenberg received his BA from the University of Colorado – Boulder and his Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he studied infectious disease epidemiology. Dr. Donnenberg spent many years at Johns Hopkins where he became an Associate Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases before going to the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Donnenberg’s research focuses include:

• Use of adipose derived stromal cells in wound healing and regenerative therapy

• Cancer stem cells and the epithelial to mesenchymal transition

• Identification of therapeutic targets on cancer stem cells

• The immune environment of metastatic epithelial cancers

• Technological advances in flow cytometry

• Technological advances in cellular therapy

He is on the editorial board of Clinical and Applied Immunology Reviews, and he is an ad hoc reviewer for numerous journals, including these and more:  Bone Marrow Transplantation, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Human Immunology, Natural Immunity, and the Journal of Immunology.

Dr. Donnenberg is a member of many professional organizations, including but not limited to, the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, the International Society for Analytical Cytology, The Transplantation Society, and the International Society for Stem Cell Research.  Throughout his career, Dr. Donnenberg has received numerous awards, including serving as the Keynote Speaker of the 2nd Annual Meeting of the Eurasian Hematology Society, Antalya Turkey (2011), the co-corresponding author (with Vera Donnenberg, Ph.D.) for the Best Paper in Clinical Cytometry, ESCCA EuroConference, Dublin, Ireland (2011), the co-corresponding author (with Vera Donnenberg, PhD) for Editor-in-Chief Selection, Top Articles, Cytometry B (2012), and co-author, Best Research Paper, American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 2018.

Dr. Fillipi received her Doctorate in Pharmacy - University René Descartes (Paris V), Francen(Doctor Pharmacien-Biologiste in France) followed by her residency in Hematopathology - University René Descartes (Paris V), France. She received a Ph.D. with Distinction very honorable with Suma Cum Laude in Cell Biology of Blood Cells – University Denis Diderot (Paris VII), France. Her postdoctoral work was with Dr. David Williams at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research, Riley Hospital for Children, Indiana University School of Medicine.  She is currently a Professor in the Division of Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Director of the Comprehensive Mouse and Cancer Core at CCHMC.

The goal of her research program is to investigate cellular and molecular mechanisms controlling normal hematopoietic cell functions. We are particularly interested in understanding basic intracellular signaling transduction mechanisms in hematopoietic cell functions with the ultimate goal of developing new treatment options for hematological and immunological disorders. The lab has focused on investigating how signaling molecules govern hematopoietic stem cell self-renewal and engraftment, and neutrophil migration and trafficking. The lab has had a longstanding interest in Rho GTPase signaling. Rho GTPases are major regulator of cell cytoskeleton rearrangement and transcriptional responses and play major roles in cell shape changes, cell migration, and cell fates.

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