https://www.gazzanigalab.org/research daily 0.75 2024-04-11 https://www.gazzanigalab.org/home daily 1.0 2026-01-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/19210948-144c-4aa9-b2a2-59b7c6c45ce9/Jason+3875_sample+2_2004+c.+cateniformisheartlotsofcolors.jpg Home Using gut bacteria to activate the immune system to fight cancer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/5517ffe2-4a45-4656-b539-7ca02d06e717/Jason+sample+4_Hi+Mag004.jpg Home - Gazzaniga Lab News October 2025: Francesca wins the poster Award at the 2025 AACR Grantee Summmit June 2025: Summer students are here! Welcome Emily Liu as a high school intern, Sheena He as a Harvard Immunology Summer Program student from Hawaii, and Ashley Killian as a Harvard Amgen Scholar from UC Berkeley! April 2025: Emily Liu is the second rotation student! March 2025: Nattaya “Mind” Duangthim joins the lab for a 10 month rotation from Thailand! November 2024: Francesca is awarded the Victoria’s Secret Global Fund for Women’s Cancers Career Development Award in partnership with Pelatonia and AACR September 2024: Naira Gutiez Garcia joins the lab for a 3 month rotation from Spain! July 2024: Francesca is awarded the Krantz Family Center for Cancer Research Spark Award and the Clinical Laboratory Integration Program Grant from the Cancer Research Institute June 2024: Rachel Lim and Sara Lopez-Quintana join the lab for summer internships January 2024: My Nguyen joins the lab as our second Harvard undergrad! January 2024: Thanpisit “Tutor” Lomphithak joins the lab as our second postdoc! September 2023: Cathleen Krabak is the first rotation student! December 2023: Francesca’s postdoc paper was one of the 10 highlighted papers from HMS in 2023: https://hms.harvard.edu/news/year-hms-science?utm_source=AcousticMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HMNews_122023%20(2)%20remainder&utm_content= October 2023: Francesca is awarded a Pilot Feasibility Grant from the Center for Study of Irritable Bowel Disease August 2023: Shumeng Hao joins the lab as our first postdoc! July 2023: Katelyn Geisler and Jack White join the lab for their Northeastern Co-op June 2023: Lowi Gebremedhin, Laura Childs, and Rachel Lim join the lab for summer research May 3rd 2023: Co-first author paper from Francesca’s postdoc is out showing that the gut microbiome impacts the immune response to cancer immunotherapy by suppressing PD-L2/RGMb. Paper link: https://rdcu.be/dbhoh HMS press release: https://hms.harvard.edu/news/boost-cancer-immunotherapys-fighting-power-look-gut-0 February 2nd 2023: Our first Harvard undergrad has joined the lab. Welcome Sneha! January 4th, 2023: Starting off 2023 with two new Northeastern Co-op students. Welcome Ashley and Rowan! September 8th 2023: Tsering Yanortsang has joined the lab as our lab manager and gnotobiotic expert! May 1st, 2022: First day of Gazzaniga Lab! Come Join us! https://www.gazzanigalab.org/people daily 0.75 2026-01-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/86da58bc-9388-486f-aa85-c4911e239627/FGazzaniga_headshot.jpg People - Francesca S. Gazzaniga, Ph.D. Principal Investigator, Assistant Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School Francesca grew up in Vermont and attended Dartmouth College where she received a bachelor’s degree in Biology. She received her PhD in Biomedical Sciences in Elizabeth Blackburn’s lab at UCSF where she studied the role of telomerase in human CD4+ T cells and breast cancer cell lines. Her postdoctoral work in Dennis Kasper’s Lab was a collaboration with Joon Seok Park in Arlene Sharpe’s lab. Together, they discovered that gut bacteria suppress PD-L2 and RGMb to promote anti-tumor immunity. During her postdoc, she also collaborated with Don Ingber’s Lab at the Wyss Institute to develop a mouse microfluidic gut on a chip. She loves hiking, camping, paddle boarding, and spending time with her family. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/4a263efb-2072-4c0e-a1b5-0141e207392d/Tsering.jpeg People - Tsering Yanortsang Senior Research Technologist/Gazzaniga Lab Manager I come with 20 years of experience working with Lab rodents of which, 10 years I led Gnotobiotic facility as Gnotobiotic facility manager. Over the years I have trained more than 30 lab members (including technicians and students) from basic rodent restrain to complex experimental procedures under aseptic technique and I thoroughly enjoy teaching. A fun scientific fact is that: As difficult as it sounds to maintain Germfree status in rodents, it is very simple given right procedure is followed. Outside work, I love being silly (be it dancing or painting) with my children and LOL (laugh out loud) with them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/20e54428-5d8b-4ea9-9209-bdac36377ff7/Shumeng%27s+photo.jpg People - Shumeng Hao, Ph.D. Postdoc Shumeng received her Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, China. She joined the Gazzaniga lab in August 2023 where her research focuses on microbiota and response to immunotherapy. In her spare time, she enjoys watching movies, cooking and shopping. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/17fcf204-e821-41d9-930d-185b356299c9/DSC07233%5B3%5D.jpg People - Thanpisit (Tutor) Lomphithak, Ph.D. Postdoc Tutor received his PhD in Clinical Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. His academic journey has taken him across the globe. He did his master’s thesis in Tohoku University in Sendai Japan and part of his PhD thesis at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. He likes embracing diversity and learning from different cultures. During his PhD he studied cell death modalities, particularly immunogenic cell death and incorporating nanomaterials and nanomedicine. His passion lies in the fascinating world of cancer immunotherapy and the incredible potential of immune cells to combate cancer. He is ready for the day when our research from the lab bench can have a tangible impact on people’s lives. Tutor has a deep love of coffee and enjoys savoring it whenever he can. During his free time, he enjoys trying new foods, exploring new places, and engaging in activities he’s never done before. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/e66b21d2-8ef5-4d05-bb94-52130cc66ce4/Lab+headshot.jpeg People - My Nguyen Harvard Undergrad My is a second-year student at Harvard College and is originally from Boston. He is concentrating in Molecular and Cellular Biology with a secondary focus on Computer Science. He started off in previous labs working with the computational side of gut microbiome studies, and it has become a passionate topic that he has pursued throughout his laboratory work and courses. Despite being unable to play an instrument himself, he is a dedicated concert fanatic with twenty-seven concerts attended in 2023 alone. In his remaining free time, you may find him baking, reading, or rewatching his favorite shows with friends. https://www.gazzanigalab.org/photos daily 0.75 2026-01-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/ec57e823-b8f3-4505-8e13-e113dac10791/IMG_7057.jpg Photos Empty lab! Come fill it with science! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/7aa5cf41-b7a3-4ede-b784-b03fdaa0ee7b/MPUSeminar.jpg Photos https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/742a3996-8423-4b51-a361-ec5cff089f4d/IMG_7065.jpg Photos Working next to the USS Constitution = Hamilton soundtrack constantly running through my head https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/284281cf-b0c3-4850-a5fe-cea32b684cbe/2023LabParty.jpg Photos https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/1524458f-43f6-4ca8-83df-564edfcdb8cd/GazzLabAugust2023.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/e8d76ea9-b6bb-466a-8cf0-0d07a1b06d27/CathleenLastDay.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/3bdc8ab7-09cd-44e6-804e-1753797f6d1f/GazzLabApril2024horizontal.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/99e8c3ed-d470-4138-8bfd-83c6750b3cec/MindLastDay.jpg Photos https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/0665a78d-6ae2-46b6-ada6-db1903caaed3/KatelynSeminar.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/bafa9ca4-8863-4229-ab15-29fe42e1c503/GazzLabSweatshirts.JPG Photos https://www.gazzanigalab.org/publications daily 0.75 2023-05-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/627161a94f5a8f78e090d1ed/1c9d71cc-b9ae-4bdc-980b-83199287c654/Jason+3876_sample+3001+b.+dorei.jpg Publications - Selected Publications Park JS*, Gazzaniga FS*, Wu M, Luthens AK, Gillis J, Zheng W, LaFleur MW, Johnson SB, Morad G, Park EM, Zhou Y, Watowich SS, Wargo JA, Freeman GJ**, Kasper DL**, Sharpe AH**. Targeting PD-L2–RGMb overcomes microbiome-related immunotherapy resistance. Nature. 617 377-385 (2023). [PMID 37138075]*These authors contributed equally to this work, ** These authors equally supervised this work. Gazzaniga FS, Camacho DM, Wu M, Palazzo M, Dinis A, Grafton FN, Cartwright MJ, Super M, KasperDL, Ingber DE. Harnessing Colon Chip technology to identify commensal bacteria that promote host tolerance to infection. Front. Cell. Infect Microbiol. 11:638014 (2021). [PubMed 33777849]. Zheng W, Zhao W, Wu M, Song X, Caro F, Sun X, Gazzaniga F, Stefanetti G, Oh S, Mekalanos JJ, Kasper DL. Microbiota-targeted maternal antibodies protect neonates from enteric infection. Nature. 577(7791):543-548 (2020). [PubMed 31915378] Jalili-Firoozinezhad S*, Gazzaniga FS*, Calamari EL*, Camacho DM, Fadel CW, Bein A, Swenor B, Nestor B, Cronce MJ, Tovaglieri A, Levy O, Gregory KE, Breault DT, Cabral JMS, Kasper DL, Novak R, Ingber DE. A Complex human gut microbiome cultured in an anaerobic intestine-on-a-chip. Nat Biomed Eng. 3(7):520-531 (2019). [PubMed 31086325] *These authors contributed equally to this work Erturk-Hasdemir D, Oh SF, Okan NA, Stefanetti G, Gazzaniga FS, Seeberger PH, Plevy SE, Kasper DL. Symbionts exploit complex signaling to educate the immune system. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 116(52)26157-26166 (2019). [PubMed 31811024]