MIHAELA CHIVU-ECONOMESCU is senior researcher I and head of SEDI department.
Expertise includes Oncology, Immunotherapy, Intracellular signaling, Targeted antitumor therapy, Immunology, and Immune response during viral infections.
Research interests: (1) Uncovering applications of liquid biopsies biomarkers to monitor tumor growth and the efficacy of cancer therapies (sPD-L1); (2) Identification of new biomarkers (KRT17, Serpin-1, ETS-1, sPD-L1, collagen family, and other tissue matrix remodeling proteins) involved in the progression and metastasis of gastrointestinal cancers, which have the potential to become new targets for tumor therapy; (3) In vitro and in vivo validation of cancer biomarkers by knock-in / knock-out gene expression experiments; (4) Development of in vitro and ex vivo models for immunotherapy and targeted therapy research, combining both approaches as a new clinical strategy in gastrointestinal cancers.
Additional research interests are: (1) humoral and cellular immune response following COVID-19 vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 natural infection; (2) development of animal model for various tumour type (glioblastoma, gastric and pancreatic cancer, acute myeloid leukaemia); (3) development of different culture systems for ex vivo expansion of human hematopoietic stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells and hepatocytes trans-differentiation; (4) studies on human hematopoietic stem cells engraftment capability after transplant, and also development of new treatments for soft tissue defects in nude mice using mesenchymal stem cells-loaded scaffolds.
