Sarah Gitto, PhD
Itmat Expertise
Immunotherapy, Ovarian Cancer, Tumor Immunology, Tumor Microenvironment, PDX modeling
Education
B.S. (Molecular Biology and Microbiology), University of Central Florida, 2011
B.S. (Health Sciences, Pre-Clinical Track ), University of Central Florida, 2011
M.S. (Biomedical Sciences), University of Central Florida, 2014
Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences), University of Central Florida, 2017
M.S. (Translational Science), University of Pennsylvania, 2022
Specialty Certification
Postgraduate Training
Post-doctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, 2018-2022
Awards and Honors
Undergraduate Research Initiative Award, University of Central Florida, 2011
Graduate Research Excellence Fellowship, University of Central Florida, 2014-2016
Young Alumni Chapter Scholarship, UCF Alumni Association, 2015-2016
Graduate Student Mentoring Scholarship, UCF Learning Environment and Academic Research Network (L.E.A.R.N.), 2015-2016
Graduate Student Mentoring Scholarship, UCF Learning Environment and Academic Research Network (L.E.A.R.N.), 2016-2017
Order of Pegasus, University of Central Florida, 2016
Award for Excellence by a Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Central Florida, 2016-2017
Award for Excellence by a Graduate Teaching Assistant, UCF College of Medicine, 2016
Fellows Graduate Student Scholarship, UCF Alumni Associaton, 2016-2017
Presentation Travel Fellowship, University of Central Florida, 2016
Director’s Travel Award, UCF Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, 2016
Outstanding Student Leader, UCF L.E.A.D. Scholars Academy, 2016
College of Medicine Founder's Scholarship, University of Central Florida, 2016
Rosa Parks Community Service Scholarship, University of CEntral Florida, 2017
Graduate Fellows Leadership Scholarship, UCF Alumni Association, 2017
30 Under 30, UCF Alumni Association, 2018
Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics Scholarship, University of Pennsylvania, 2020-2022
Society of ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (SITC), Accelerator Program, 2021-2023
Post-Doctoral Travel Award, Translational Research Cancer Consortium, 2022
Arthur and Sandra Irving Cancer Immunology Symposium, 2023
Memberships and Professional Organizations
Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 2011 - 2017
Delta Epsilon Iota Academic Honor Society, 2012 - 2017
Biomedical Sciences Graduate Student Association, University of Central Florida, 2012 - 2017
American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2015 - 2017
Graduate Student Association, University of Central Florida, 2015 - 2017
American Association for Cancer Research, 2016 - Present
American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2016 - Present
Society for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, 2019 - Present
Web Links
Selected Publications
PET imagining of PARP inhibitor drug-target-engagement has potential to guide therapy in ovarian cancer.
Pantel A*, Gitto SB*, Makvandi M, Kim H, Medvedev S, Weeks JK, Torigian DA, Hsih CJ, Ferman B, Latif NA, Tanya JL, Martin LP, Lanzo SM, Liu F, Cao Q, Mills GB, Doot RK, Mankoff DA, Mach RH, Lin LL, Simpkins F., Clinical Cancer Research 29(8): 1515-1527, 2023, PMID:36441795
[18F]FluorThanatrace ([18F]FTT) PET Imaging of PARP-inhibitor drug-target engagement as a biomarker of response in ovarian cancer
Gitto SB, Pantel AR, Makvandi M, Kim H, Medvedev S, Weeks JK, Torigian DA, Hsieh CJ, Ferman B, Latif NA, Tanyi JL, Martin LP, Lanzo SM, Liu F, Cao Q, Mills GB, Doot RK, Mankoff DA, Mach RH, Lin LL, Simpkins F, Cancer Research 83(7_Supplement): 5610, 2023
A B7-H4 targeting antibody-drug conjugate shows anti-tumor activity in PARPi and platinum resistant cancers with B7-H4 expression
Gitto SB, Whicker M, Davies G, Kumar S, Kinneer K, Lewis A, Mamidi S, Medvedev S, Anderton J, Tang J, Ferman B, Coats S, Wilkinson RW, Brown EJ, Powell DJ, Simpkins F, Cancer Research 83(7_Supplement): 1133, 2023
Combination of cytokines and PM21-particle stimulation results in robust expansion of memory-like Natural Killer cells with enhanced survival
Oyer JL, Croom-Perez TJ, Robles-Carrillo LD, Dieffenthaller TA, Hasan MF, Gitto SB, Mucha JM, Altomare DA, Igarashi RY, Copik AJ, Cancer Research 83(7_Supplement): 2896, 2023
Pre-clinical investigation of astinine-21-parthanatine for high-risk neuroblastoma.
Makvandi M, Samanta M, Martorano P, Lee H, Gitto SB, Patel K, Groff D, Pogoriler J, Martinez D, Riad A, Dabagian H, Zaleski M, Taghyaee T, Xu K, Lee JY, Hou C, Farrel A, Batra V, Carlin S, Powell DJ Jr., Mach RH, Pryma DA, Maris JM, Communications Biology 5(1): 1260, 2022, PMID:36396952
Cryopreserved PM21-particle-expanded Natural Killer cells maintain cytotoxicity and effector functions in vitro and in vivo.
Oyer JL, Croom-Perez TJ, Dieffenthaller TA, Robles-Carillo LD, Gitto SB, Altomare DA, Copik AJ, Frontiers in Immunology 13(): 861681, 2022, PMID:35464440
Induction of pancreatitis in mice with susceptibility to pancreatic cancer.
Gitto SB, Beardsley JM, Nakkina SP, Altomare DA, Methods in Molecular Biology, 2022, PMID:35366980
Humanized patient derived xenograft models of ovarian cancer.
Gitto SB, George E, Medvedev S, Simpkins F, Powell DJ Jr, Methods in Molecular Biology, 2022, PMID:34918300
Enhancing immune checkpoint inhibitor efficacy with anti-angiogenics in ovarian cancer.
Gitto SB, Medvedev S, Pandey V, Omran D, Anderson M, Schwartz LE, Simpkins F, Powell DJ Jr, Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, 2022
DFMO improves survival and increases immune cell infiltration in association with MYC downregulation in the pancreatic tumor microenvironment.
Nakkina SP, Gitto SB, Beardsley JM, Pandey V, Rohr MW, Parikh JG, Phanstiel O, Altomare DA, International Journal of Molecular Sciences 22(24): 13175, 2021, PMID:34947972
