“I haven’t pinpointed what I specifically want to work on, but I’m eager to do research that has some kind of positive impact on the world, whether that’s helping people or the environment,” Bonanni said. “I want my research to have a bigger purpose.”

Some student researchers focus on a single topic, but Bonanni has dabbled in several—and because of this, she sees the world differently, said a Fordham professor. 

“Her experience has given her a good view of different topics. She can ask questions that other people might not be thinking about,” said her academic advisor Patricio Meneses, Ph.D., associate professor of biological sciences. “This will benefit her when it comes to asking the next interesting or necessary question in science.” 

‘A Whole New World Opened Up’ 

Bonanni was born to a family of scientists in Niskayuna, New York. Her father is an electrical engineer at General Electric. Her mother, a longtime optometrist, pursued her career when there were few women in her field. Both inspired their daughter to become a researcher. 

Bonanni had always been fascinated by the natural world. In elementary school, she drew three-page pictures of different landscapes and the flora and fauna that lived within them. But in high school, Bonanni realized that science was more than a childhood interest. 

“When I took a biology course, it was like a whole new world opened up. I learned how the natural world works, how everything fits together in ecosystems, and how life functions. Once I knew that was a field, I was like, ‘Wow—that’s the one for me,’” she said. 

Growing as a Biologist at Fordham

In 2020, she enrolled at Fordham. She wanted to attend school in New York City, and she was drawn to Fordham’s Jesuit ideals.

“I knew that I could find a Catholic community at other colleges, but I liked how Fordham implements the Jesuit values in their course philosophy,” she said. 

Bonanni spent her first year on Zoom due to the pandemic. The following summer, she took two tuition-free classes. Among them was a genetics course with biology professor Edward Dubrovsky, Ph.D., whose work she loved so much that she asked if she could work in his lab. 

Throughout her sophomore year, they examined the genetic mutations responsible for cardiomyopathy, a disease that thickens heart tissue and can lead to death. Using fruit flies as a model for the human body, they explored a question: Where do the mutated genes that cause cardiomyopathy need to be located in order for symptoms to develop? Any cell in the body or specifically in the heart? (They later learned that the latter was correct.) 

Under Dubrovsky, Bonanni learned what it’s like to work in a real lab, versus a classroom. 

“When you’re in a research lab, you don’t know what the answer is. Sometimes things don’t go right the first time, but that’s just part of the research process,” Bonanni said. “That uncertainty is where discoveries are made.” 

The following summer, she studied in Australia through Fordham’s partnership with the School for Field Studies. For one month, she lived in the rainforest and conducted fieldwork on marsupials. 

“It was really cool to learn about how they came to be in Australia and set up field cameras to take pictures of marsupials passing by, like pademelons,” Bonanni said. 

Exploring Bronx Plant Life

She loved working with animals, but she also wanted to try working with plants. She had always enjoyed tending to her family’s vegetable garden, where they raised tomatoes, lettuce, squash, and beans. 

Last fall, she studied the spread of Japanese knotweed, an invasive species that has spread to the Bronx, in the lab of biology professor Steven J. Franks, Ph.D. She enjoyed the experience, but realized she preferred working with animal cells. 

Keeping the Earth Safe for Turtles

This semester, Bonanni started working on a project that combines her interests in cell and molecular biology and ecology. 

In the lab of Evon Hekkala, Ph.D., associate professor of biological sciences, Bonanni is studying green sea turtles, the largest hard-shelled sea turtle on Earth. Every year, these turtles return to the same beach to lay their eggs. The problem is only some areas are protected from poaching and other activities that prevent babies from hatching and safely making their way to the ocean. 

“If only specific areas are protected, then only specific turtle genes might be protected. That means you’re limiting the genetic diversity of the population,” Bonanni said. “A less genetically diverse population is less likely to survive diseases,” said Bonanni, who is now analyzing DNA from hatched turtle shells to assess their genetic diversity. 

The Wonder of the Natural World 

Bonanni wants to become a biologist. No matter what she focuses on, she says she wants to hold onto something that we often forget as adults—the wonder of the natural world. 

“Growing plants is so exciting when you really think about it,” said Bonanni, who once worked as a summer camp counselor who taught children how to water seeds into sunflowers. “The fact that a beautiful, green, lush thing can come out of a small seed is so cool. As adults, we sometimes lose the wonder associated with that. But when you look at a kid experiencing it for the first time, you remember how exciting it really is.”   

“Everyone brings something important to the table, regardless of the level of education you have,” said J.D. Lewis, Ph.D., a biological sciences professor who is leading the Fordham team in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Inclusive Excellence 3 Learning (IE3) Community. “Through this collaborative effort, we want to figure out how to teach STEM in a way that is accessible, relevant, and interesting to all our students.” 

Fordham is among more than 100 institutions involved in the IE3 Community. The goal of the initiative is to improve STEM teaching and learning in higher education, especially for first-generation college students, transfer students, and students from underrepresented backgrounds. 

More Inclusive Intro STEM Classes

After applying to be part of the initiative in 2019, Fordham was accepted into the inaugural cohort in 2021. The institutions were grouped into seven clusters, each with an assigned goal. The goal of Fordham’s cluster is to make introductory STEM course content more inclusive. Ultimately, Fordham wants students who better reflect the racial and intersectional diversity of the Bronx community to enter STEM disciplines and graduate at rates comparable to those of majority students, said Lewis. 

Lewis leads Fordham’s IE3 leadership team, which is currently planning the details of the project. They are joined by Dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center Laura Auricchio, Dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill Maura Mast, Associate Professor of Chemistry Robert Beer, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Patricio Meneses, and CSTEP Director Michael Molina.

One of the team’s goals is to build on the University’s previous successes with mentoring and early research experiences, especially Project TRUE, the ASPIRES Scholars program, the Calder Summer Undergraduate Research Program, and Fordham’s Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program, said Lewis. For example, they are currently working with CSTEP to include more CSTEP students in research opportunities earlier on in their time at Fordham, said Lewis. 

The team will also assess the University’s data on students taking STEM classes, starting with the biology department. They are planning on studying student outcomes, including the DFW rate—the number of students who earn D’s or F’s or withdraw from the course, said Lewis. They may also interview introductory biology instructors and students to understand the support they might need, said Lewis. 

“From them, we can get a sense of what’s working, what isn’t, what they’re struggling with, what they’re concerned about, and where and why they may not feel included,” Lewis said.  

Earlier Research Opportunities Built Into the Curriculum

In addition, the team is working on integrating student-directed research earlier in the STEM major. Upperclassmen typically conduct their own research in labs on campus, said Lewis, but their team is revising the curriculum so that they can introduce research to students as early as their first year of college. For example, the biology department recently introduced “research modules,” a new component in an introductory biology lab that gives students more creative freedom, said Lewis. 

“Instead of students simply following a manual type of lab activity, they are doing research where we don’t know the answer beforehand. They are experiencing those eureka moments, while still learning biology skills,” Lewis said. “Instead of waiting to work in a lab as a junior, they’re doing research that is yielding an unknown result—now, as a second-semester first-year student.” 

This fall, Fordham will finalize its project plan in collaboration with 14 other universities. Over the next six years, they will work together to achieve their goal through nearly $8 million in shared funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a science philanthropy organization founded by aviator and industrialist Howard R. Hughes. 

“We want all Fordham students and prospective students to see and feel that they can be successful in a STEM major and career,” Lewis said. “I hope that our data will lead us to what that should look like.”

Au-Yeung’s research focus is multiple sclerosis, one of many conditions for which the company is developing therapies. At Fordham, majoring in biological sciences, she discovered not only the joys of research but also many other sources of inspiration.

What are some of the reasons why you decided to attend Fordham?
Having been raised in small-town Wilton, Connecticut, I knew I wanted to experience college in the city. Fordham was perfect because it also had such a classic campus atmosphere. And I have always valued small classes because I learn best not only by being challenged but also through actively engaging in discussions and debates. So Fordham was the right choice for me because of the smaller classes with passionate professors teaching them.

What do you think you got at Fordham that you couldn’t have gotten elsewhere?
Prior to coming to Fordham, I was only excited to learn about things pertaining to my major, biological sciences, but through the University’s core curriculum, I was exposed to so many different classes I never would have taken otherwise. I’m thankful that I took these courses because they refined the way I question and think about virtually everything: religion, ethics, myself, the health care industry, et cetera. I gained new interests through many of my core courses, such as Buddhism in America, and Intro to Bioethics challenged many preconceived beliefs I had about the healthcare industry and controversial ethicists.

Did you take courses or have experiences at Fordham that helped you discern your talents and interests and put you on your current path?
Originally I was set on going to medical school after graduating and did not consider anything else. To build my resume and earn money, I applied for an undergraduate research grant for the summer of 2017. Working at the Calder Center, I studied the use of eDNA—or DNA that animals leave behind in their environment—as part of biodiversity and conservation studies at the center.

This experience changed everything for me. I enjoyed it so much that I applied for another grant and worked on cell/molecular research in Associate Professor Patricio Meneses’ lab. These academic experiences motivated me to try out industry research, so I applied for an internship with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, where I work now. This internship affirmed for me that I wanted to change my medical school plans and pursue research instead. In the spring before graduating, I worked part time at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, contributing to global HPV and HIV studies, after finding this position through Fordham.

Who is the Fordham professor or person you admire the most, and why?
Patricio Meneses—I took his cancer biology and introductory virology classes, and he was my lab mentor. He helped give me the confidence to pursue the life I wanted after I graduated. His intelligence is admirable and his life story of getting where he is today is inspiring. He didn’t discover his passion or “dream job” by following one path; he went through different career paths, all of which led him to where he is today. It’s admirable because I am a planner, and his story and advice remind me that you don’t necessarily have to know where you want to be a year from now.

Can you describe your current responsibilities? What do you hope to accomplish, personally or professionally?
I’m a research associate working in Regeneron’s Immune and Inflammation Group. My group focuses on autoimmune diseases, but I specifically work on multiple sclerosis. My responsibilities include developing, optimizing, and testing candidate therapeutics for MS in mouse models and downstream analysis of associated disease-related pathologies. My professional goals are to continue learning (since the learning curve is steep), and my long-term goal is to become a scientist.

Is there anything else we should know about you, your plans, or your Fordham connection?
While I love science, I also love to travel, paint, cook/bake, and run long distance. I also would love to be a resource for current pre-med students or help out in any way I can as a proud Fordham alumna.

On Saturday, the University received an urgent email from the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, an association that represents more than 100 independent colleges and universities in New York state. CICU, via the Office of the New York Governor, was requesting that college campuses consider donating personal protective equipment, or PPE, to the state. 

“Within minutes of receiving the requests for goggles, gloves, and other personal protective equipment, Fordham faculty and staff responded generously, outlining what they had available and offering to drive to campus to organize the supplies,” said Maura Mast, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. “It was a true team effort⁠ — and a true Fordham effort — in response to the needs of our community.” 

In recent weeks, medical professionals treating COVID-19 patients have been experiencing a nationwide shortage of personal protective equipment. Without adequate protection, health care workers risk infecting patients — and themselves. Doctors, nurses, and others have posted online pleas for help, often using the hashtag #GetMePPE.

In responding to the state’s request, Fordham joined a growing group of universities and colleges across the nation that have been donating unused PPE gear normally reserved for lab classes to medical staff in dire need of supplies. 

The day the request came in, Mast and Laura Auricchio, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center, rallied the campus community, and one faculty member became the point person to coordinate with CICU and the state: Robert H. Beer, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry and associate dean for STEM and pre-health education at Fordham College at Rose Hill. 

Beer contacted his STEM colleagues at the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses. Over the next 24 hours, the chemistry, physics, biology, and natural sciences departments and the Louis Calder Center pooled their supplies in a campus-wide effort coordinated by Beer, campus security guards, lab technicians, graduate students, department chairs, deans, and others. Public Safety and Maureen Keown, the director of University health services, donated supplies as well. By mid-day Sunday, all supplies were safely stored in the FCRH Public Safety Office. 

The campus community was also working on a time crunch. By 8 p.m. on Sunday, the campus would close, in accordance with the New York Office of the Governor’s executive order closing all businesses and nonprofit institutions. 

“I’m just so appreciative of how responsive and quickly everybody acted, and how selfless they were with their time and their desire to help, without thinking of themselves or expecting anything in return,” said Beer. “I hope other people will be inspired to do something.”

In total, the University amassed 70 N95 respirator masks, 350 three-ply surgical face masks, 273 plastic safety glasses, 48 plastic protective face shields, 40 elbow-length rubber gloves, 31,100 exam gloves, 255 white lab coats, 2,000 sterile cotton-tipped applicators, 800 alcohol prep pads, and two bottles of rubbing alcohol, according to John Carroll, associate vice president for public safety. 

On Tuesday morning, members of the New York State Department of Transportation arrived at Rose Hill to pick up the supplies, which will be given to the National Guard for distribution.

“One feels so helpless watching the numbers of sick grow and hearing of the terrible suffering of our fellow New Yorkers,” said Auricchio. “I am proud to be a member of this caring, civic-minded, community.”

STORY UPDATE: On Saturday, March 28, the University donated a second set of PPE supplies to New York state to assist with the health crisis. Approximately 100 coveralls and 800 pairs of disposable gloves were collected from the Louis Calder Center and dropped off at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, where they will be given to the National Guard for distribution, said Beer.

“Dan Sullivan was a man of great faith and great intellect,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham.

“He was the embodiment of the Jesuit ideal, expressing his faith through scientific research and teaching. He was also a man of great practical wisdom and a warm and thoughtful colleague. Today the Fordham family mourns with Dan’s friends and loved ones. He will be sorely missed.”

A native of Rosedale, Queens, Father Sullivan joined the ROTC as an undergraduate, and was one of the founders of the Fordham company of the Pershing Rifles Military Society. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force Reserves in 1950. He entered into the Society of Jesus three months after his graduation in 1950; he was ordained in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1961 and pronounced his final vows in 1979 at Rose Hill.

Pairing Faith and Science

From the very beginning, Father Sullivan seamlessly paired a love of science with his religious calling. As a seminarian, he earned a master’s degree in biology at Fordham in 1958 before heading to the State University of Innsbruck in Austria for five years of studies under the tutelage of esteemed theologians Karl Rahner, S.J., and Josef Jungmann, S.J.

Before he returned to New York, Father Sullivan earned a doctorate of philosophy in entomology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1969. There, he trained in the science of biological control, in which beneficial insects are enlisted to attack and control insect pests that destroy agricultural crops. He joined the Fordham faculty that year as an assistant professor, then went on to become a full professor in 1984.

Among the major works he published were “Aphids” in Encyclopedia of Entomology (Kluwer Academic Publishing, 2004), “Influence of Host Plant Resistance on Activity and Abundance of Natural Enemies” in Biological Control of Insects (Phoenix Publishing, 2003), and “Hyperparasitism” in Encyclopedia of Insects (Academic Press/Elsevier Science, 2003).

Father Sullivan lent a great deal of his talents to helping the international scientific community. In 1984, he traveled to Nigeria on a Fulbright fellowship to join a team doing research on the cassava mealybug; in 1988, he was a visiting scientist in at the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) in Cali, Colombia. He was also the visiting scientist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Andhra Pradesh, India, in 1999 and again in 2004. He also had the honor of serving as President of the New York Entomological Society and President of the Fordham Chapter of Sigma Xi -the Scientific Research Honor Society.

In a Fordham News podcast last year, Father Sullivan said his Jesuit superiors actively encouraged him to travel and conduct research.

“Non-Catholics sometimes think there’s a contradiction between belief in God and science. It’s not that way at all. It complements it, in fact. I look back on some of the great scientists. Galileo was a Catholic. And Darwin, although not a Catholic, was a religious man,” he said. “And then of course one of the great geneticists, who started genetics, was Gregor Mendel, who was an Augustinian priest.”

An Invaluable Source of Knowledge

After retiring in 2006, Father Sullivan stayed on the faculty, living at Kohlmann Hall, and advising junior and senior biology students. At that time, he began sharing office space on the fourth floor of Larkin Hall with Craig Frank, Ph.D., a professor of mammalian ecological physiology and biochemistry, who’d joined the faculty in 1994.

Frank said that the letters of recommendation that Father Sullivan wrote enabled countless students to advance to medical school and graduate programs, and noted that many remained in contact with him after graduation.

In the Fordham News podcast, Father Sullivan shared some of the advice he’d dispensed to students over the years.

“I tell my students that the really great scholars in this world are not gonna give you a hard time. It’s the second-raters that do that,” he said.

Frank said that their office hours only overlapped once a week, but they developed a rapport over the years such that, several years ago, someone taped a picture of The Muppets characters Waldorf and Statler on their door. It was a testament to Father Sullivan’s good humor that he let it stay up, Frank said.

Though the biology department existed before Father Sullivan taught there, Frank said his contributions were numerous and influential.

“He was one of the founding fathers of the biology department. He was a very good friend, very pleasant to talk to, and his wit never diminished with age,” he said.

“He was an invaluable source of knowledge, and I viewed him very much as a mentor, even as recently as last week. I would just love sitting in our office during our office hours together, and just talking with him about university life. We didn’t always agree on everything, but it was always a joy talking to him.”

An Unmistakable Fidelity to Fordham

Father Sullivan’s fidelity to the biology department and the University was unmistakable. Every year, the annual newsletter detailing recent events of the department had his byline on it. This year, he penned the paper Historical Profile of the Biology Faculty: Past and Present. He also delivered the invocation and benediction at Fordham’s ROTC’s commissioning ceremony each May. Captain Dan Millican, executive officer and assistant professor of military science in the ROTC program, noted that Father Sullivan attended a 70th anniversary celebration of the Pershing Rifles just two weeks ago at West Point.

“He was a great supporter, and a great influence among the cadets,” he said.

“He could always drive the tone of the room to be more productive, and drive cadets toward service.”

In 2009, Fordham honored Father Sullivan with a Bene Merenti Medal for 40 years of service, citing his career as one that “reflects Ignatius Loyola’s international vision for Jesuits.” Jason Munshi-South, Ph.D., an associate professor of biological sciences, said he was the most dedicated attendee at the department’s annual colloquium.

“I can’t imagine these seminars without his presence near the front every week. He was always able to make a personal connection with the seminar speaker given his varied travels around the world as a Jesuit and biologist,” he said.

Patricio Meneses, Ph.D., the chair of the biology department, echoed the sentiment.

“Father Sullivan made me and every new faculty member feel at home from the first day,” he said.

“He was a true scholar, a great colleague, and a great friend.”

A wake for Father Sullivan will be held Monday, Nov. 25, from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Murray-Weigel Hall Chapel, Rose Hill Campus.

A Mass of Christian Burial will take place Tuesday, Nov. 26, at 11:30 a.m. at the Murray-Weigel Hall Chapel, Rose Hill Campus.

Notes of condolence may be sent to a cousin, Kevin Giuliano, 67 Sandburg Place, Pine Bush, NY  12566.

“We have to flood the market to let women and young girls and boys know that they should get vaccinated,” said Meneses, Ph.D., associate professor of biological sciences, who dedicates his laboratory to studying the basic processes that establish HPV infection.

HPV and Black Women

This past month, a study published in the journal Cancer highlighted the impact of the virus, which affects 14 million Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Researchers found that the death rate from cervical cancer, an HPV-related cancer, is higher among black women than previously suspected. According to the study, black women were dying of cervical cancer at twice the rate of white women. Among black women over the age of 20, the rate of cervical cancer death was 10.1 deaths per 100,000 women while the rate for white women was 4.7 per 100,000 women.

One major emphasis of the Cancer study is that HPV-related cancers like cervical cancer is up to 93 percent preventable by pap smears and HPV vaccinations, according to the CDC.

“There might be something biological where some groups are more susceptible, but I think there are some groups who may also be less good at preventative medicine,” said Meneses. “Once they go to get a check-up, it’s almost too late.”

Meneses, who has spent his career examining the process of initial viral entry and trafficking to better understand HPV, said HPV vaccines are mostly marketed as antiviral vaccines when in fact they should also be viewed as anticancer vaccines.

Taking Preemptive Measures

Currently, Gardasil, Gardasil 9, and Cervarix are the only vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration to help prevent HPV infection. Both Gardasil and Gardasil 9 have been approved for use in men, women, girls, and children. Cervarix has been approved for use in girls and women for the prevention of HPV-caused cervical cancer.

“We need to make sure that the vaccines are hitting enough people to prevent the disease from spreading from person to person,” said Meneses. “Right now, the vaccines are being taken by approximately 40 percent of young girls, and you almost need 80 percent to ensure the protection.”

While there are preemptive measures in place to combat the disease, access to affordable health care continues to be a potential limiting factor for minority women.

“If you’re not very wealthy or don’t have good health care, you’re probably not going to get the vaccine,” he said. “And if you’re not getting the vaccine early on, you’re going to be getting an HPV infection and that’s going to already predispose you to having cervical cancer.”

Meneses said the challenge that doctors face today is getting people to understand that tactical practices such as screenings and vaccinations are the first line of defense against HPV-related cancers.

“This is one of those diseases from the perspectives of a scientist that you can almost eradicate from the world because it’s virally mediated,” he said. “You could eventually cover enough people that it doesn’t present a problem anymore, but obviously that’s in an ideal world.”

Related stories:

Professors Collaborate to Detect HPV

https://now.fordham.edu/science/fordham-professors-collaborate-to-detect-hpv/

Student Researchers Seek Cure for HPV

https://now.fordham.edu/science/video-faculty-and-student-researchers-seek-cure-for-hpv-virus/

This past summer she was one of 50 people selected to participate in an undergraduate research program at  the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. One of the world’s preeminent medical institutions, MD Anderson counts among its faculty many pioneers in cancer prevention research.

“It was so impactful to know that they were once my age and now are world-renowned researchers,” Makara said of meeting such faculty, including the center’s president, Fordham graduate Ronald DePinho, MD, FCRH ’77.

“He said that we have the power to change the world, and that it takes two things to succeed: drive and collaboration. He can captivate a room,” Makara said of DePinho, who came to Fordham in 2012 to speak to pre-med students on advances in cancer research. “He was down to earth and eager to talk to students.”

During the 10-week program, Makara worked alongside a postdoctoral fellow, Jessica Bowser, PhD, and a professor, Russell Broaddus, MD, PhD, in the pathology lab, aiding in their research of treatments for low-grade endometrial cancer. This type of cancer generally has a high cure rate, Makara said, but in some patients the disease is returning months or years later having spread to other parts of the body—possibly due to a special type of mutation in tumors, the ß-catenin mutation. Since treatments, including chemotherapy, are not wholly successful, “developing targeted therapies is the next best option,” said Makara, who focused on a particular pathway in the mutation.

Bowser and Broaddus “have such a passion for what they do,” said Makara, “and always kept me motivated throughout all the successes and the technical difficulties.”

When she wasn’t working in the lab, Makara said she enjoyed attending grand rounds, where doctors and researchers from around the world present the latest in medical education. One day she walked into a lecture unaware of the topic at hand, but the presentation on acute pain in head and neck patients undergoing radiotherapy caught her interest. She soon started shadowing the chief of oral oncology at MD Anderson, Mark Chambers, DMD. He introduced her to specialties that “merged my love for cancer research and my new passion for dentistry.

“I didn’t know how captivating it would be,” said Makara, a biology and English double major. “It made science fun.”

At the end of the program, Makara and her fellow students presented their summer work at a poster session, where students, faculty, and physicians could ask questions about the research. In November, back at Fordham, she was asked to present her research on endometrial cancer at a Fordham Science Council meeting. This April she is presenting her work at Harvard Medical School’s New England Science Symposium and at Fordham’s Eighth Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium.

She’s back in the lab, too. After taking a virology course taught by Patricio Meneses, PhD, associate professor of biology at Fordham, Makara asked to join his lab, where he studies HPV, or human papillomavirus.

The most common sexually transmitted virus in the United States, HPV is responsible for an estimated one-third of the 1.5 million cancers attributed to viruses. Makara is in his lab three hours a day, three times a week, assisting in research on how to lessen the virus’s potentially deadly power.

“The fact that there is this kind of opportunity on campus,” said Makara, a native of Long Island and a first-generation Polish American, “enhances my skills and adds to my knowledge.”

She envisions pursing dentistry with a specialty in oral oncology and head and neck cancer. But for now, Makara will continue her research at Fordham—and again in Houston: She’s been invited to return to MD Anderson this summer.

– Rachel Buttner

If it follows the usual pattern of viral infections, it will eventually take over the cell, turning it into an engine for making more viruses and infecting other cells.

Except it doesn’t.

The virus stalls. The infection stops and the cell survives.

This scenario plays out all the time in the laboratory of Patricio I. Meneses, Ph.D., associate professor of biology, who has spent nearly 10 years figuring out how to short-circuit the virus in this controlled laboratory setting.

Today, he’s looking for a way to short-circuit it outside of the lab—that is, in people who catch the virus. The result, he hopes, will be a treatment that saves thousands of lives.
That’s because the virus in question is HPV, or human papillomavirus, which is responsible for 99 percent of cervical cancers, as well as many oral cancers and most anal cancers.

Despite the development of HPV vaccines within the last six years, cervical cancer still kills an estimated 250,000 women annually, most of them in the developing world, according to the World Health Organization.

Given these numbers, Meneses is doubly driven: to understand the virus, but also to prevent deaths that often have significant social costs.

“Many of these women are in their early 30s … so not only are we losing these women to cancer, but the family structure is completely destroyed, both at home and in the community, and in the country itself, especially in places like sub-Saharan Africa,” he said. “You’re losing all these women who can make a difference, both in the social structure and the direction of the local environment, the local government. The social impact is huge.”

Two HPV vaccines, Cervarix and Gardasil, counteract the two most common strains of HPV, but not the remaining 13 strains that cause 30 percent of cervical cancer cases.

Meneses is searching for an inexpensive treatment, affordable for those in less-developed countries, that would stop all strains of the virus. He envisions a treatment that’s easy to make and deliver, such as a small molecule—taken in pill form, perhaps—that slips inside an infected cell and prevents HPV from taking it over.

For this project, Meneses is drawing on a longstanding interest in how viruses work. While studying gene therapy as a graduate student in the 1990s, he took part in a study of the use of viruses to deliver genes that would replace genes that were linked to cancer. He pursued postdoctoral study of HPV at Harvard after learning about the virus’s ability to lie dormant in the cervix for years after entering the body.

“The biology of how a virus infects a cell is surely phenomenal,” he said. “It’s such a small agent—the virus is infinitesimal in its size—and yet it can do so much. You may end up working 10 years of your life on a five-minute span of the lifetime of a virus, but that five-minute span is really crucial. A lot happens in that five minutes.”

His research—funded by a grant from the American Cancer Society, and one from the National Cancer Institute—belongs to the field of proteomics, or the study of the makeup of proteins, which are the essential stuff of cells.

Two proteins form the outer shell of the HPV virus, enclosing the DNA within. When the virus enters a healthy cell, these proteins “hijack” the cell’s proteins, which normally move nutrients and oxygen toward the cell’s nucleus, and force them to carry the virus’s DNA instead.

In the course of this takeover, the HPV proteins mingle their amino acids with the healthy proteins inside of the cell.

This is the phase that Meneses is studying. He has found that when he mutates four of the HPV proteins’ amino acids, the virus stalls somewhere in the jungle of proteins inside the cell. To find out exactly where it breaks down, he and his team are conducting a variety of experiments involving these altered HPV viruses, which they manufacture and set loose on cultured human cells.

It’s challenging work because he has to pinpoint the few amino acid interactions that faltered, somewhere amid the thousands of proteins inside the cell. Once he succeeds, however, the result could be a targeted treatment that prevents these interactions and stops the infection.

In taking on this wily virus, Meneses sees new possibilities for advancing our understanding of nature.

“Viruses are the greatest survivors,” he said. “They’ve been around for centuries, and they have managed a way to still be around by adapting. So I think there is a lot to learn as to how nature works in general” by studying them, he said.

Meneses estimates that any breakthrough in his work is two to five years away. He noted, however, that there is another anti-HPV weapon that isn’t used often enough, especially in underdeveloped countries: the simple pap smear, which can detect cervical cancer in its early stages. “If you catch (cervical cancer) early, it’s very treatable,” Meneses said.

If it follows the usual pattern of viral infections, it will eventually take over the cell, turning it into an engine for making more viruses and infecting other cells.

Except it doesn’t.

The virus stalls. The infection stops and the cell survives.

This scenario plays out all the time in the laboratory of Patricio I. Meneses, Ph.D., associate professor of biology, who has spent nearly 10 years figuring out how to short-circuit the virus in this controlled laboratory setting.

Today, he’s looking for a way to short-circuit it outside of the lab—that is, in people who catch the virus. The result, he hopes, will be a treatment that saves thousands of lives.

That’s because the virus in question is HPV, or human papillomavirus, which is responsible for 99 percent of cervical cancers, as well as many oral cancers and most anal cancers.

Despite the development of HPV vaccines within the last six years, cervical cancer still kills an estimated 250,000 women annually, most of them in the developing world, according to the World Health Organization.

Given these numbers, Meneses is doubly driven: to understand the virus, but also to prevent deaths that often have significant social costs.

“Many of these women are in their early 30s … so not only are we losing these women to cancer, but the family structure is completely destroyed, both at home and in the community, and in the country itself, especially in places like sub-Saharan Africa,” he said. “You’re losing all these women who can make a difference, both in the social structure and the direction of the local environment, the local government. The social impact is huge.”

Two HPV vaccines, Cervarix and Gardasil, counteract the two most common strains of HPV, but not the remaining 13 strains that cause 30 percent of cervical cancer cases.

Meneses is searching for an inexpensive treatment, affordable for those in less-developed countries, that would stop all strains of the virus. He envisions a treatment that’s easy to make and deliver, such as a small molecule—taken in pill form, perhaps—that slips inside an infected cell and prevents HPV from taking it over.

For this project, Meneses is drawing on a longstanding interest in how viruses work. While studying gene therapy as a graduate student in the 1990s, he took part in a study of the use of viruses to deliver genes that would replace genes that were linked to cancer. He pursued postdoctoral study of HPV at Harvard after learning about the virus’s ability to lie dormant in the cervix for years after entering the body.

“The biology of how a virus infects a cell is surely phenomenal,” he said. “It’s such a small agent—the virus is infinitesimal in its size—and yet it can do so much. You may end up working 10 years of your life on a five-minute span of the lifetime of a virus, but that five-minute span is really crucial. A lot happens in that five minutes.”

His research—funded by a grant from the American Cancer Society, and one from the National Cancer Institute—belongs to the field of proteomics, or the study of the makeup of proteins, which are the essential stuff of cells.

Two proteins form the outer shell of the HPV virus, enclosing the DNA within. When the virus enters a healthy cell, these proteins “hijack” the cell’s proteins, which normally move nutrients and oxygen toward the cell’s nucleus, and force them to carry the virus’s DNA instead.

In the course of this takeover, the HPV proteins mingle their amino acids with the healthy proteins inside of the cell.

This is the phase that Meneses is studying. He has found that when he mutates four of the HPV proteins’ amino acids, the virus stalls somewhere in the jungle of proteins inside the cell. To find out exactly where it breaks down, he and his team are conducting a variety of experiments involving these altered HPV viruses, which they manufacture and set loose on cultured human cells.

It’s challenging work because he has to pinpoint the few amino acid interactions that faltered, somewhere amid the thousands of proteins inside the cell. Once he succeeds, however, the result could be a targeted treatment that prevents these interactions and stops the infection.

In taking on this wily virus, Meneses sees new possibilities for advancing our understanding of nature.

“Viruses are the greatest survivors,” he said. “They’ve been around for centuries, and they have managed a way to still be around by adapting. So I think there is a lot to learn as to how nature works in general” by studying them, he said.

Meneses estimates that any breakthrough in his work is two to five years away. He noted, however, that there is another anti-HPV weapon that isn’t used often enough, especially in underdeveloped countries: the simple pap smear, which can detect cervical cancer in its early stages. “If you catch (cervical cancer) early, it’s very treatable,” Meneses said.