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Amira Zaher

Amira Zaher

 

BS, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN

Mentors: Bryan Allen, MBA, MD, PhD and Doug Spitz, PhD

Comprehensive Exam: GC4419 for radio-sensitization and accelerating wound healing in soft tissue sarcoma

 

My current research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of radiation injury in non-malignant tissues during cancer therapy in soft tissue sarcoma and lung cancer patients. Using redox biology, my work identifies vulnerabilities in cancer that allow for selective radio-sensitization in the tumor while simultaneously protecting normal tissues.

 

Publications:

  1. Mapuskar KA, Steinbach EJ, Zaher A, Riley DP, Beardsley RA, Keene JL, et al. Mitochondrial Superoxide Dismutase in Cisplatin-Induced Kidney Injury. Antioxidants (Basel). 2021;10(9). PMC8469643

  2. Zaher A, Stephens LM, Miller AM, Hartwig SM, Stolwijk JM, Petronek MS, et al. Pharmacological ascorbate as a novel therapeutic strategy to enhance cancer immunotherapy. Frontiers in immunology. 2022;13:989000. PMC9444023

  3. Petronek MS, Monga V, Bodeker KL, Kwofie M, Lee CY, Mapuskar KA, Stolwijk JM, Zaher A, et al. Magnetic resonance imaging of iron metabolism with T2* mapping predicts an enhanced clinical response to pharmacological ascorbate in patients with GBM. Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. 2023. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-3952

  4. Zaher A, Mapuskar KA, Sarkaria JN, Spitz DR, Petronek MS, Allen BG. Differential H2O2 Metabolism among Glioblastoma Subtypes Confers Variable Responses to Pharmacological Ascorbate Therapy Combined with Chemoradiation.  International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2023;24:17158. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms242417158

 

Awards:

University of Iowa Post-Comprehensive Exam Research Fellowship, Spring 2024

NIH/National Medical Association R13 Travel Award for 2023 National Medical Association Annual Convention and Scientific Assembly. "Superoxide dismutase mimetic GC4419 increases radiosensitivity of soft tissue sarcomas while enhancing wound healing in irradiated non-malignant tissue" 

 

ORCiD: 0000-0001-7030-0576

 

Cancer Biology PhD Program