About the Brain Tumor Translational Lab
Our Mission
In the Brain Tumor Translational Laboratory we investigate the impact of glioblastoma (GBM) intra-tumor heterogeneity on therapeutic resistance and tumor growth after treatment.
We integrate genomic measurements with the phenotypic analysis of GBM cancer stem-like cells and use this information to gain mechanistic insights into the development of therapeutic resistance.
Our long-term goal is to identify patient-specific targets and contribute to the development of more effective treatments for GBM patients.
Our Team
Sara G.M. Piccirillo, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell Biology & Physiology at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (UNMHSC) and a Full Member of the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Dr. Piccirillo graduated at the University of Milan (Italy) in Medical Biotechnology in 2003 and gained a Ph.D. in Translational and Molecular Medicine in 2008 at the University of Milan-Bicocca.
For her post-doctoral training, Dr. Piccirillo was awarded a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship in 2010 and worked as a Research Associate in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences of Cambridge University (UK). In February 2011, she was elected as a Research Fellow of Hughes Hall, one of the 31 colleges in Cambridge. In 2013, Dr. Piccirillo started a collaboration with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas (USA) and visited the institution between 2014-2016 as Visiting Senior Scientist.
In 2016, Dr. Piccirillo was recruited to UT Southwestern Medical Center as Faculty Member of Internal Medicine and in 2018 she was promoted to Research Assistant Professor at the same institution. In 2019, Dr. Piccirillo joined UNMHSC as a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor.
Yamhilette Licón Muñoz, Ph.D. is an Associate Scientist with a diverse educational background and extensive experience in biomedical research. She earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of New Mexico in 2018. Before this, she obtained a M.Sc. in Biomedical Sciences from the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí and a B.Sc. in Biology from the Universidad de Guadalajara in Mexico. She has received numerous honors and awards, including the prestigious AACR-American Brain Tumor Association Scholar-in-Training Award in 2023.
Apart from her research endeavors, Dr. Licón Muñoz has actively engaged in volunteer activities and services, including mentoring students, being a contributing writer for the UNM Medicine Magazine (2018-2020), acting as an International Affairs Officer for the Postdoctoral Association at UNM (2022) and participating as UNM Wellness Ambassador.
Leopoldo A García Montaño (Leo) is a PhD candidate of the Biomedical Science Graduate Program (BSGP) at the School of Medicine in the University of New Mexico (UNM). Leo received his BS in Biology at the University of Sonora (Mexico) in 2014. In 2016, he earned his MS in neuropharmacology and experimental therapeutics at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV sede sur) and became research assistant in the Department of Genetics at the Institute of Ophthalmology “Fundación de Asistencia Privada Conde de Valenciana” in Mexico City. In 2019, Leo joined the BSGP at UNM as a graduate student. In 2020, he became a member of the Brain Tumor Translational Lab in the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology at the UNM Health Sciences Center (UNMHSC) where he currently studies the role of wild-type p53 in human glioblastoma.
Recent Publications
Single-nucleus and spatial landscape of the sub-ventricular zone in human glioblastoma
Licón-Muñoz Y, Avalos V, Subramanian S, Granger B, Martinez F, Varela S, Moore D, Perkins E, Kogan M, Berto S, Chohan MO, Bowers CA, Piccirillo SGM.
bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Apr 27:2024.04.24.590852.
García-Montaño LA, Licón-Muñoz Y, Martinez FJ, Keddari YR, Ziemke MK, Chohan MO, Piccirillo SGM.
Molecular Cancer Research, 2023 May 31
Somatic mutation effects diffused over microRNA dysregulation
Yu H, Jiang L, Li CI, Ness S, Piccirillo SGM, Guo Y.
Bioinformatics, 2023 Sep 2;39(9):btad520
Gliomas Interact with Non-glioma Brain Cells via Extracellular Vesicles
Gao X, Zhang Z, Mashimo T, Shen B, Nyagilo J, Wang H, Wang Y, Liu Z, Mulgaonkar A, Hu XL, Piccirillo SGM, Eskiocak U, Davé DP, Qin S, Yang Y, Sun X, Fu YX, Zong H, Sun W, Bachoo RM, Ge WP.
Cell Reports, 2020 Feb 25