Current Positions
Assistant Member
Department of Immunology (Primary Appointment)
Department of Neuro-Oncology (Secondary Appointment)
Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology (Secondary Appointment)
Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Assistant Professor of Oncologic Sciences
Morsani College of Medicine
University of South Florida
Education
2008 - 2011: Ph.D., Immunology and Applied Biotechnology. Tor Vergata University (Rome, Italy)
2005 - 2007: M.S. (Final mark: 110/110, Summa Cum Laude), Biology Applied to Biomedical Research. University of Rome “Sapienza” (Rome, Italy)
2000 - 2005: B.S. (Final mark: 104/110), Biology. University of Rome “Sapienza” (Rome, Italy)
Postgraduate Training and Fellowship Appointments
2013 - 2017: Post-doctoral Fellow. Translational Tumor Immunology Program. Wistar Institute. Philadelphia, PA. Advisor: Prof. D.I. Gabrilovich, M.D., Ph.D.
2011 - 2012: Research Fellow. Center for Biomedical Research. Population Council. New York, NY. Advisor: Dr. Elena Martinelli, Ph.D.
Academic Appointments and Employment
2018 - 2019: Research Assistant Professor, Immunology, Microenvironment and Metastasis Program. Wistar Institute. Philadelphia, PA. Advisor: Prof. D.I. Gabrilovich, M.D., Ph.D.
2017 - 2018: Staff Scientist, Immunology, Microenvironment and Metastasis Program. Wistar Institute. Philadelphia, PA. Advisor: Prof. D.I. Gabrilovich, M.D., Ph.D.
Teaching Experience
University Courses
Aug 2020 – Present Lecture: “Metabolic Regulation of Immunity”. Cancer Immunology (PCB6231), Cancer Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, Instructor
Nov 2022 – Present Lecture: “Immunosuppression II”. Cancer Immunology (PCB6231), Cancer Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, Instructor
Jan 2023 – Present Lecture: “Targeting myeloid cells in cancer”. Cancer Immunotherapy (PCB6281), Cancer Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, Instructor
Jan 2023 - Current Course Director: “Current Topic in Oncology (PCB6930)”. Cancer Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
Fellowship and Awards
1. Moffitt Cancer Center’s American Cancer Society. Institutional Research Grant (ACS-IRG) Program Award
2. Ben & Catherine Ivy Foundation. 2021-Present
3. Wistar Trainee Travel Award. 2017
4. F.M Kirby Foundation Fellow. 2011 - 2012
5. Travel award sponsored by Societa’ Italiana Chimici for poster presentation at 2nd European Congress of Immunology (Berlin, Germany). 2009
6. National Institute of Health Fellowship (Rome, IT). 2008 - 2011
Professional Association Memberships
2013 - Present: Member, American Association for Cancer Research
2011 - Present: Member, American Association of Immunology
2020 - Present: Member, Society of Neuro-Oncology
2021 - Present: Member, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer
Patents
Methods and compositions for treating cancer by targeting fatp2 and myeloid derived suppressor cells. DI Gabrilovich, F Veglia - US Patent App. 17/429,718, 2022
Peer-Reviewed Publications
1. Bayik D, Bartels CF, Lovrenert K, Watson DC, Zhang D, Kay K, Lee J, Lauko A, Johnson S, Lo A, Silver DJ, McGraw M, Grabowski M, Mohammadi AM, Veglia F, Fan Y, Vogelbaum MA, Scacheri P, Lathia JD. Distinct Cell Adhesion Signature Defines Glioblastoma Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cell Subsets. Cancer Res. 2022 Nov 15;82(22):4274-4287. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-3840. PMID: 36126163; PMCID: PMC9664137.
2. Donthireddy L, Vonteddu P, Murthy T, Kwak T, Eraslan RN, Podojil JR, Elhofy A, Boyne MT 2nd, Puisis JJ, Veglia F, Singh SS, Dotiwala F, Montaner LJ, Gabrilovich DI. ONP-302 Nanoparticles Inhibit Tumor Growth By Altering Tumor-Associated Macrophages And Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts. J Cancer. 2022 Mar 28;13(6):1933-1944. doi: 10.7150/jca.69338. PMID: 35399717; PMCID: PMC8990435.
3. Veglia F, Hashimoto A, Dweep H, Sanseviero E, De Leo A, Tcyganov E, Kossenkov A, Mulligan C, Nam B, Masters G, Patel J, Bhargava V, Wilkinson P, Smirnov D, Sepulveda MA, Singhal S, Eruslanov EB, Cristescu R, Loboda A, Nefedova Y, Gabrilovich DI. Analysis of classical neutrophils and polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells in cancer patients and tumor-bearing mice. J Exp Med. 2021 Apr 5;218(4):e20201803. doi: 10.1084/jem.20201803. PMID: 33566112; PMCID: PMC7879582.
4. Alicea-Torres K, Sanseviero E, Gui J, Chen J, Veglia F, Yu Q, Donthireddy L, Kossenkov A, Lin C, Fu S, Mulligan C, Nam B, Masters G, Denstman F, Bennett J, Hockstein N, Rynda-Apple A, Nefedova Y, Fuchs SY, Gabrilovich DI. Immune suppressive activity of myeloid-derived suppressor cells in cancer requires inactivation of the type I interferon pathway. Nat Commun. 2021 Mar 19;12(1):1717. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-22033-2. PMID: 33741967.
5. Veglia F, Sanseviero E, Gabrilovich DI. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells in the era of increasing myeloid cell diversity. Nat Rev Immunol. 2021 Feb 1:1–14. doi: 10.1038/s41577-020-00490-y. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33526920; PMCID: PMC7849958.
6. Trizzino M, Zucco A, Deliard S, Wang F, Barbieri E, Veglia F, Gabrilovich D, Gardini A. EGR1 is a gatekeeper of inflammatory enhancers in human macrophages. Sci Adv. 2021 Jan 13;7(3):eaaz8836. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aaz8836. PMID: 33523892; PMCID: PMC7806227.
7. De Leo A, Ugolini A, Veglia F. Myeloid Cells in Glioblastoma Microenvironment. Cells. 2020 Dec 24;10(1):18. doi: 10.3390/cells10010018. PMID: 33374253; PMCID: PMC7824606.
8. Ugolini A, Tyurin V, Tyurina Y, Tsyganov E, Donthireddy L, Kagan VE, Gabrilovich DI, Veglia F. Polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells limit antigen cross-presentation by dendritic cells in cancer. JCI Insight. 2020 Jun 25:138581. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.138581
9. Mastio J, Condamine T, Dominguez G, Kossenkov AV, Donthireddy L, Veglia F, Lin C, Wang F, Fu S, Zhou J, Viatour P, Lavilla-Alonso S, Polo AT, Tcyganov EN, Mulligan C Jr, Nam B, Bennett J, Masters G, Guarino M, Kumar A, Nefedova Y, Vonderheide RH, Languino LR, Abrams SI, Gabrilovich DI. Identification of monocyte-like precursors of granulocytes in cancer as a mechanism for accumulation of PMN-MDSCs. J Exp Med. 2019 Sep 2;216(9):2150-2169. doi: 10.1084/jem.20181952. Epub 2019 Jun 25
10. Veglia F, Tyurin VA, Blasi M, De Leo A, Kossenkov AV, Donthireddy L, To TKJ, Schug Z, Basu S, Wang F, Ricciotti E, DiRusso C, Murphy ME, Vonderheide RH, Lieberman PM, Mulligan C, Nam B, Hockstein N, Masters G, Guarino M, Lin C, Nefedova Y, Black P, Kagan VE, Gabrilovich DI. Fatty acid transport protein 2 reprograms neutrophils in cancer. Nature. 2019 May; 569(7754):73-78. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1118-2. PubMed PMID: 30996346.
Comment in: Cancer Discov. 2019 Apr 26. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-RW2019-064. PMID: 31028090
Comment in: Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2019 May 7. doi: 10.1038/d41573-019-00078-9
Comment in: Cancer Cell, 2019 June 10. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2019.05.007
11. Veglia F, Perego M, Gabrilovich D. Myeloid Derived Suppressor Cells coming of age. Nat Immunol. 2018 Feb;19(2):108-119. Review.
12. Veglia F, Tyurin VA, Mohammadyani D, Blasi M, Duperret EK, Donthireddy L, Hashimoto A, Kapralov A, Amoscato A, Angelini R, Patel S, Alicea-Torres K, Weiner D, Murphy ME, Klein-Seetharaman J, Celis E, Kagan VE, Gabrilovich DI. Lipid bodies containing oxidatively truncated lipids block antigen cross-presentation by dendritic cells in cancer. Nat Commun. 2017 Dec 14;8(1):2122.
Comment in: Nunes-Hasler P. J Immunother Cancer. 2018 Jun 20;6(1):60.
13. Veglia F, and Gabrilovich DI. Dendritic cells in cancer: the role revisited. Curr Opin In Immunol. 2017 Feb 10;45:43-51.
14. Guerra-Pérez N, Aravantinou M, Veglia F, Goode D, Truong R, Derby N, Blanchard J, Grasperge B, Gettie A, Robbiani M, Martinelli E. Rectal HSV-2 Infection May Increase Rectal SIV Acquisition Even in the Context of SIVΔnef Vaccination. PLoS One. 2016 Feb 17;11(2).
15. Cirelli E, Riccomi A, Veglia F, Gesa V, De Magistris MT, Vendetti S. 2015 Retinoic Acid Promotes Mucosal and Systemic Immune Responses after Mucosal Priming and Systemic Boosting in Mice. J Vaccines Vaccin. 2015. 6:265. 2015 doi:10.4172/2157-7560.1000265.
16. Guerra-Pérez N, Frank I, Veglia F, Aravantinou M, Goode D, Blanchard JL, Gettie A, Robbiani M, Martinelli E. Retinoic Acid Imprints a Mucosal-like Phenotype on Dendritic Cells with an Increased Ability to Fuel HIV-1 Infection. J Immunol. 2015 Mar 1;194(5):2415-23.
17. Ramakrishnan R, Tuyrin VA, Veglia F, Condamine T, Amoscato A, Mohammadyani D, Johnson JJ, Min Zhang L, Klein-Seetharaman J, Celis E, Kagan VE, Gabrilovich DI. Oxidized lipids block antigen cross-presentation by dendritic cells in cancer. J Immunol 192, 2920-31 (2014).
18. Martinelli E, Veglia F, Goode D, Guerra-Perez N, Aravantinou M, Arthos J, Piatak M Jr, Lifson JD, Blanchard J, Gettie A, Robbiani M. The frequency of α₄β₇(high) memory CD4⁺ T cells correlates with susceptibility to rectal simian immunodeficiency virus infection. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2013 Dec1;64(4):325-31.
19. Zizzari IG*, Veglia F*, Taurino F, Rahimi H, Quaglino E, Belleudi F, Riccardo F, Antonilli M, Napoletano C, Bellati F, Benedetti-Panici P, Torrisi MR, Frati L, Nuti M, Rughetti A. HER2-based recombinant immunogen to target DCs through FcγRs for cancer immunotherapy. J Mol Med (Berl). 2011 Dec;89(12):1231-40. *Equally contributed.
20. Veglia F, Sciaraffia E, Riccomi A, Pinto D, Negri DR, De Magistris MT, Vendetti S. Cholera toxin impairs the differentiation of monocytes into dendritic cells, inducing professional antigen-presenting myeloid cells. Infect Immun. 2011 Mar;79(3):1300-10.
21. Vendetti S, Davidson TS, Veglia F, Riccomi A, Negri DR, Lindstedt R, Pasquali P, Shevach EM, De Magistris MT. Polyclonal Treg cells enhance the activity of a mucosal adjuvant. Immunol Cell Biol. 2010 Oct;88(7):698-706.
22. Vendetti S, Riccomi A, Negri DR, Veglia F, Sciaraffia E, De Magistris MT. Development of antigen-specific T cells in mediastinal lymph nodes after intranasal immunization. Methods. 2009 Dec;49(4):334-9.