Quaovi Sodji

Biography

After completing a Clinical Instructor position in the Department of Radiation Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the laboratories of Dr. Morris in the Department of Radiation Medicine and Dr. Capitini in the Pediatrics Department, I recently transitioned into an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Medicine. My independent laboratory research focuses on the development of novel cancer therapeutics including immunotherapeutic agents and using radiation delivered by radionuclides to enhance the efficacy and safety of cancer immunotherapy.

At the Georgia Institute of Technology, I focused on learning and understanding the basis of organic chemistry and acquiring technical skills such as column chromatography, NMR spectroscopy etc. under the supervision of Dr. Adegboyega Oyelere and in collaboration with Dr. Mostapha El-Sayed. I focused on structural modifications to tamoxifen for the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to estrogen receptor positive breast cancer cells. I subsequently enrolled in the University System of Georgia MD/PhD program, which enable me to pursue my graduate career at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the drug discovery field with projects aiming at improving the therapeutic index of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, through isoform selectivity and targeted delivery under the supervision of Dr. Adegboyega Oyelere. Multiple HDAC inhibitors were designed in-silico, synthesized and tested, yielding small molecules selective for isoform 6 or 8 inhibition and targeting folate receptors in malignant cells.

At Stanford University, I investigated the mechanisms of natural killer (NK) cell exclusion from the tumor microenvironment (TME) of pancreatic cancer in the research laboratory of Dr. Amato Giaccia. We subsequently found that inhibiting the complement C3a enhances NK cells infiltration in the TME and may represent a novel immunotherapy approach against pancreatic cancer which for optimal results should be used in combination with radiation therapy.

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as an instructor, I investigated the use of targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) to enhance the safety and efficacy of CAR T cell therapy.