About

The goal of my research is to understand the mechanisms of cancer progression and resistance to therapy and translate those findings into the clinic. My laboratory is currently focused on 1) testing the hypothesis that HULLK, the novel lncRNA we discovered, functions as an oncogene and a clinical biomarker in PCa; 2) testing the hypothesis that co-targeting the transcription factor ERG with AR could be an effective treatment strategy for PCa by further developing a novel small molecule ERG inhibitors; 3) leveraging a validated in vitro multi-cell tumor microenvironment system that we developed to a) determine how heterotypic cell signaling in the tumor microenvironment determines sensitivity to immune checkpoint inhibitors, and b) to evaluate the impact of heightened cortisol levels, indicative of patient psychological distress, on tumor cell proliferation and response to cancer treatments.

Daniel Gioeli Bio: Following a BS from Cornell University in Biology with a concentration in Biochemistry, Dan Gioeli earned a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Toxicology in the laboratory of Dr. Bernard Weissman mapping tumor suppressor genes. Dr Gioeli had the great fortune of doing his postdoctoral training with Dr. Michael Weber at the University of Virginia. During Dr Gioeli’s postgraduate work with Dr Weber, he performed pioneering work using activation state specific antibodies to interrogate signaling in archival pathology samples. This work revealed that MAPK activity increases as prostate cancer (PCa) progresses to a castration-resistant disease. During this time, Dr Gioeli also identified the endogenous androgen receptor (AR) phosphorylation sites in PCa cells to systematically explore regulated changes in AR phosphorylation as a possible mechanism for activation/sensitization of AR-dependent gene expression by cell surface receptors and associated downstream effectors. When promoted to independent research faculty in 2002, Dr Gioeli continued to work on the AR in PCa, with NIH-supported projects examining the regulation of the AR and signaling in prostate cancer. During an extended sabbatical at HemoShear Therapeutics in 2014 – 2015, Dr Gioeli led the development of a 3D multi-cell model of the tumor microenvironment that incorporates endothelial cells exposed to physiologic mechanical shear and flow, which led to new research projects in his laboratory. In his experience in academia and the biotechnology industry, Dr Gioeli has overseen successful projects funded by the NIH/NCI (R01s, R21s, SBIRs, STTRs), CDMRP DoD, and the Virginia Commonwealth Research board. Dr Gioeli is the Cancer Biology Program co-Leader in the UVA NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center and on the executive committee of the UVA Cancer Training Grant. Dr Gioeli is active in graduate education as course Director and co-Director for two classes in Cancer Biology: Cancer Signaling and Therapeutics, and Advanced Topics in Cancer. He has been a member of national review panels for DOD CDMRP and NCI/NIH grants, and reviews for a multitude of journals.