Research Team

As principal investigator in the Immunometabolism and Cancer Immunology Lab, Dr. Curtis leads a team that is advancing research in the discovery of new therapeutics for high-grade serous ovarian cancer to improve patient outcomes.

Marion R. Curtis, Ph.D.

An expert in immunology, Dr. Curtis works in the Department of Research at Mayo Clinic and is an assistant professor of immunology at Mayo Clinic College of Science and Medicine. She is focused on ovarian cancer biology, specifically the identification of mediators of immune cell metabolism and function. Learn more about Dr. Curtis' professional highlights.

Dr. Curtis is the author of numerous scientific publications and has received several scientific awards for her research to develop new treatments for ovarian cancer.

Remya Raja, Ph.D.

Remya Raja is a postdoctoral fellow focused on identifying tumor specific antigens from ovarian cancer using multi-omics approaches. She received her Ph.D. from National Centre for Cell Science Pune, India, in 2013 and joined a research group led by Akhilesh Pandey, M.D., Ph.D., at Institute of Bioinformatics, Bangalore, India. Her previous research experience is in quantitative mass spectrometric analysis to identify differentially activated signaling pathways in cancer and she has authored several publications.

Tom Rubino

Tom Rubino is a Graduate Research Education Program (GREP) participant studying high grade serous ovarian cancer targets for engineered T-cells. He is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and received a bachelor's degree in biology and a minor in biochemistry from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. Before his GREP appointment, Tom studied the neuroblastoma tumor microenvironment as a SURF student in the lab of Shizhen (Jane) Zhu, M.D., Ph.D. at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Emma Utagawa

Emma Utagawa is a Graduate Research Education Program (GREP) participant studying the impact of aging-associated metabolites on CD8 T cell function in the context of cancer. Before joining the Curtis lab, she worked in the pathobiology and neurobiology of cognitive impairment, including Alzheimer's disease and Down syndrome. She received a bachelor's degree in Medical Studies and a minor in Spanish from Barrett, The Honors College, at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona.