Sarah Gitto, PhD
Contact InformationStellar Chance Laboratories
411 Curie Blvd, Rm 413A
Philadelphia, PA, 19104
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
Award for Excellence by a Graduate Teaching Assistant, UCF College of Medicine, 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
College of Medicine Founder's Scholarship, University of Central Florida, 2016
Outstanding Student Leader, UCF L.E.A.D. Scholars Academy, 2016
Director’s Travel Award, UCF Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, 2016
Presentation Travel Fellowship, University of Central Florida, 2016
Fellows Graduate Student Scholarship, UCF Alumni Association, 2016-2017
Award for Excellence by a Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Central Florida, 2016-2017
Graduate Fellows Leadership Scholarship, UCF Alumni Association, 2017
Rosa Parks Community Service Scholarship, University of Central Florida, 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
SITC Woman in Immunotherapy Network Leadership Institute, 2023
Arthur and Sandra Irving Cancer Immunology Symposium, 2023
Early Career Enhancement Award, Hopkins-UPenn Ovarian Cancer SPORE, 2023-2024
NIC-NCI Loan Forgiveness Program (LRP) Award, 2024-2026
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
Graduate Student Association, University of Central Florida, 2015 - 2017
American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2015 - 2017
American Association for Cancer Research, 2016 - Present
American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2016 - Present
Society for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, 2019 - Present
Powell-Drescher Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation, 2025 - Present
Web Links
Selected Publications
[18F]Fluorthanatrace PET in ovarian cancer: Comparison with [18F]FDG PET, lesion location, tumor grade, and breast cancer gene mutation status.
Weeks JK, Pantel AR, Gitto SB, Liu F, Schubert EK, Pryma DA, Farwell MD, Mankoff DA, Mach RH, Simpkins F, Lin LL., Journal of Nuclear Medicine 66(1): 34-39, 2025, PMID:29638432
[18F]FlourThanatrace PET imaging as a biomarker of response to PARP inhibitors in breast cancer.
Gitto SB, Pantel AR, Maxwell K, Pryma DA, Farwell MD, O'Brien SR, Clark AS, McDonald ES, Communications Medicine, 2025
Anti-angiogenics enhance immune checkpoint inhibitor efficacy in ovarian cancer.
Gitto SB, Medvedev S, Anderson M, Simpkins F, Powell DJ, Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer 12(): , 2024
PARP-targeted theranostic radiopharmaceutical therapy for drug-resistant ovarian cancer.
Gitto SB, Ihewulezi CN, Onecha V, Lee H, Suarez-Garcia D, Bosque J, Simpkins F, Bertolet A, Pryma DA, European Journal of Cancer 211(): 114580, 2024
Lipid metabolism and synthesis pathway analysis of Sigma-2 Receptor and Progesterone Membrane Component 1 to develop novel cancer cell therapies.
Riad A, Gitto SB, Mach RH, European Journal of Cancer 211(): 114580, 2024
PARP1-targeted alpha therapy enhances target expression
Babazada H, Martorano P, Lee H, Gitto SB, Ihewulezi CN, Samanta M, Batra V, Maris JM, Farwell MD, Pryma DA, European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 51(): S465-S465, 2024
Time-driven dosimetry tool for in-vitro RPT experiments.
Onecha VV, Bosque J, Suarez-Garcia D, Gitto SB, Ihewulezi C, Lee H, Pryma DA, Bertolet A, AAPM 66th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2024
Space-and time-heterogeneous dosimetry for in vivo targeted alpha therapy
Onecha VV, Suarez-Garcia D, Gitto SB, Lee H, Ihewulezi CN, Pryma D, Bertolet A, Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 2024
PET imaging of PARP expression as a biomarker of response to chemotherapy in breast cancer: A nonrandomized clinical trial.
Gitto SB, Young A, Bleiweiss I, Clark A, McDonald E., Cancer Research 84(): PS05-02, 2024
CHK1 inhibitor SRA737 is active in PARP inhibitor resistant and CCNE1 amplified ovarian cancer.
Xu H*, Gitto SB*, Ho GY*, Medvedev S, Shield-Artin KL, Kim H, Beard S, Kinose Y, Wang X, Barker HE, Ratnayake G, Hwang WT, Australian Ovarian Cancer Study, Hansen RJ, Strouse B, Milutinovic S, Hassig C, Wakefield MJ, Vandenberg CJ, Scott CL, Simpkins F., iScience 27(7): , 2024, PMID:39021796
