Roddy O'Connor, BSc, MS, PhD
Research Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory MedicinePerelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Contact InformationPerelman School of Medicine
3400 Civic Center Blvd
8-105 South Pavilion Extension
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Email: oconnorr@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Research Expertise
CAR-T cell metabolism; T cell activation, proliferation and differentiation; Lentiviral, retroviral and mRNA-based gene transfer; Post-transcriptional gene suppression by shRNA and microRNA's; Bio-engineered cell culture platforms; Tissue stem cell differentiation;
Clinical Expertise
Clinical Research Coordinator
Other Expertise
Biomedical Expert (Local News Affiliate)
Itmat Expertise
Adoptive immunotherapy, CAR-T cell genetic metabolism, T cell genetic engineering (Chimeric Antigen Receptors), T cell differentiation
Graduate Groups
Cell and Molecular Biology
Genomics and Computational Biology
Education
BSc (Exercise Physiology), University of Limerick, 1997
MS (Muscle Metabolism), Georgia State University, 1999
PhD (Molecular Pharmacology), Emory University School of Medicine, 2007
Specialty Certification
Postgraduate Training
Postdoctoral Scholar in Cancer Biology, University of Pennsylvania, 2007-2010
Postdoctoral Fellowship in Immunology, University of Pennsylvania, 2010-2012
Awards and Honors
President's Letter for Outstanding Academic Achievement (University of Limerick), 1993
President's Letter for Outstanding Academic Achievement (University of Limerick), 1994
Pre-doctoral Travel Award American Society of Cell Biology, Annual Mtg. Washington, DC, 2004
Young Investigator's Award for Excellence in Research (FASEB conference: Skeletal Muscle Satellite and Stem cells Conference, Tucson, AZ.), 2005
Postdoctoral Fellowship (Alex's Lemonade Foundation), 2010-2012
The American Association of Immunologists (AAI) Young Investigator Award at the Translational Research Cancer Center Consortium, Pittsburgh, PA., 2015
NIH Reviewer, Special Emphasis Panel "Metabolic reprogramming to improve Immunotherapy, 2019-2019
NIH Reviewer, Special Emphasis Panel "Mammalian models for translational research", 2020-2020
Developed a customized CAR T-cell culture medium (NB-ROC), marketed by Nucleus Biologics, 2021
Guest Editor (Antibodies Journal): Special Issue on CAR T-cell metabolism, 2021-2021
Memberships and Professional Organizations
The American Association of Immunologists (AAI), 2011 - Present
The American Society for Cell and Gene Therapy, 2018 - present
National Institutes of Health (NIH), 2019 - Present
The Physiological Society, 2020 - 2021
Web Links
Informative webinar describing how fuel metabolism supports CAR-T cell differentiation
This webinar focuses on understanding what is in your cell culture media and why owning your formulations is imperative.
Understanding how Artificial Intelligence can expedite media formulation
Informative webinar providing insight into how unique CAR co-stimulatory domains influence the growth, differentiation, and metabolic function of T cells
This webinar will focus on understanding the time and cost of custom media and its importance for cell therapy
My lab's website in the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies, Perelman School of Medicine,
Selected Publications
Acetyl-CoA carboxylase-1 inhibition increases regulatory T-Cell metabolism and graft-vs-host disease treatment efficacy via mitochondrial fusion
McDonald-Hyman C, Aguilar EG, Compeer EB, Zaiken MC, Rhee SY, Mohamed FA, Larson JH, Loschi ML, Lees C, Thangavelu G, Sleeth ML, Smith KD, Whangbo JS, Ritz J, Sparwasser TD, O'Connor RS, Crawford PA, Rathmell JC, Kean LS, Zeiser R, Hippen KL, Dustin ML, Blazar BR., J. Clin Invest no volume(no issue): e182480, 2025, PMID:41026528
Fate induction in CD8 CAR T cells through asymmetric cell division
Lee CS, Chen S, Berry CT, Kelly AR, Herman PJ, Oh S, O'Connor RS, Payne AS, Ellebrecht CT., Nature 633(8030): 670-677, 2024, PMID:39198645
Deletion of CD38 enhances CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T cell function
Veliz K, Shen F, Shestova O, Shestov M, Shestov A, Sleiman S, Hansen T, O'Connor RS, Gill S., Mol Therapy Oncolytics 32(2): 200819, 2024
Enhancing chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy by modulating the p53 signaling network with Δ133p53α
Roselle C, Horikawa I, Chen L, Kelly AR, Gonzales D, Da T, Wellhausen N, Rommel PC, Baker D, Suhoski M, Scholler J, O'Connor RS, Young RM, Harris CC, June CH., PNAS 121(10): e2317735121, 2024, PMID:38408246
Exploiting the CD200-CD200R immune checkpoint axis in multiple myeloma to enhance CAR T-cell therapy
Yan Tang, Wei Liu, Siddhant Kadu, Omar Johnson, Zainul S Hasanali, Andre Kelly, Alexander Shestov, Raymone Pajarillo, Eli Greenblatt, Matthew Holmes, Li-Ping Wang, Natalie Shih, Roddy S O'Connor, Marco Ruella, Alfred L Garfall , David Allman, Dan T Vogl, Adam Cohen, Carl H June, Neil C Sheppard, Blood 143((2)): , 2024, PMID:37616575
Sequential Exposure to IL21 and IL15 During Human Natural Killer Cell Expansion Optimizes Yield and Function
Zhang C, Kadu S, Xiao Y, Johnson O, Kelly A, O'Connor RS, Lai M, Kong H, Srivatsa S, Tai V, Greenblatt E, Holmes M, Riley JL, June CH, Sheppard NC., Cancer Immunol Res 11(11): 1524-1537, 2023, PMID:37649085
Nicotinamide enhances natural killer cell function and yields remissions in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Frank Cichocki, Bin Zhang, Cheng-Ying Wu, Emily Chiu, Abderrahman Day, Roddy S O'Connor, Dima Yackoubov, Ronit Simantov, David H McKenna, Qing Cao, Todd E Defor, Murali Janakiram, Rose Wangen, Zuzan Cayci, Nathaniel Snyder, Akhilesh Kumar, Bartosz Grzywacz, Justin Hwang, Yona Geffen, Jeffrey S Miller, Joseph Maakaron, Veronika Bachanova, Sci Transl Med 15(705): eade3341, 2023, PMID:37467318
Metabolic and epigenetic orchestration of (CAR) T cell fate and function
Akbari B, Hosseini Z, Shahabinejad P, Ghassemi S, Mirzaei HR, O'Connor RS., Cancer Lett 550(): 215948, 2022, PMID:36209973
Targeting PARP11 to avert immunosuppression and improve CAR T therapy in solid tumors
Zhang H, Yu P, Tomar VS, Chen X, Atherton MJ, Lu Z, Zhang HG, Li S, Ortiz A, Gui J, Leu NA, Yan F, Blanco A, Meyer-Ficca ML, Meyer RG, Beiting DP, Li J, Nunez-Cruz S, O'Connor RS, Johnson LR, Minn AJ, George SS, Koumenis C, Diehl JA, Milone MC, Zheng H, Fuchs SY., Nat Cancer 3(7): 808-820, 2022, PMID:35637402
Rapid manufacturing of non-activated potent CAR T cells
Ghassemi S, Durgin JS, Nunez-Cruz S, Patel J, Leferovich J, Pinzone M, Shen F, Cummins KD, Plesa G, Cantu VA, Reddy S, Bushman FD, Gill SI, O'Doherty U, O'Connor RS, Milone MC., Nat Biomed Eng 6(2): 118-128, 2022, PMID:35190680
