Jennifer L. Vella

MCB graduate student

About Mejennifer

After graduating from Nova Southeastern University in 2009, I went on to pursue a Master’s of Science degree at King’s College London in England. For my Master’s research, I studied the involvement of several different Rho GTPases in cancer cell migration. After the completion of my master’s degree in 2010, I worked as a research associate at the University of Miami, where we investigated methods to combat tumor growth by down-regulating MDSCs. I joined the Huang lab in July 2014 following my entry into the MCB program at Dartmouth College. My current work focuses on understanding the contribution that E-cadherin plays in T-cell migration and effector responses. In her free time, Jennifer enjoys hiking, kayaking and playing with her dog Einstein Fleming.

Publications

Xu X, Wang X, Todd EM, Jaeger ER, Vella JL, Mooren OL, Feng Y, Hu J, Cooper JA, Morley SC, Huang YH. Mst1 Kinase Regulates the Actin-Bundling Protein L-Plastin To Promote T Cell Migration. J Immunol. 2016 Sep 1;197(5):1683-91. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1600874. PMID: 27465533

O’Connor MA, Vella JL, Green WR. Reciprocal relationship of T regulatory cells and monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells in LP-BM5 murine retrovirus-induced immunodeficiency. J Gen Virol. 2016 Feb;97(2):509-22. doi: 10.1099/jgv.0.000260. PMID: 26253145

Weed DT, Vella JL, Reis IM, De la Fuente AC, Gomez C, Sargi Z, Nazarian R, Califano J, Borrello I, Serafini P. Tadalafil reduces myeloid-derived suppressor cells and regulatory T cells and promotes tumor immunity in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2015 Jan 1;21(1):39-48. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-14-1711. PMID: 25320361

Weed DT, Walker G, De La Fuente AC, Nazarian R, Vella JL, Gomez-Fernandez CR, Serafini P. FOXP3 subcellular localization predicts recurrence in oral squamous cell carcinoma. PLoS One. 2013 Aug 20;8(8):e71908. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0071908. PMID: 23977174

Roth F, De La Fuente AC, Vella JL, Zoso A, Inverardi L, Serafini P. Aptamer-mediated blockade of IL4Rα triggers apoptosis of MDSCs and limits tumor progression. Cancer Res. 2012 Mar 15;72(6):1373-83. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-11-2772. PMID: 22282665

Contact: Jennifer.L.Vella.GR@dartmouth.edu