Marcin Iwanicki
Teaching Associate Professor
Charles V. Schaefer, Jr. School of Engineering and Science
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Education
- PhD (2008) University of Virginia (Microbiology/Cancer Biology and Immunology )
Research
The primary focus of our education and research program is to provide robust chemical and biological research education to high-school, undergraduate, and graduate students. We use large language models, sequencing data, and in vitro culture to characterize the functional consequences of cell interaction with extracellular matrix (ECM), amino acid osmolytes, and perfluorinated alkylated substances (PFAS).
General Information
I am a Teaching Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (CCB) at the Stevens Institute of Technology. I teach multiple undergraduate and graduate courses and provide service to the Department and the School of Engineering and Science (SES). I also lead the externally funded research group of high-school-, undergraduate-, and graduate students ( http://www.iwanickilab.org/lab-members/) and provide external service to the scientific community through routine participation in the National Cancer Institute, Department of Defense, and National Science Foundation study sections, manuscript peer-reviews, and leading thematic issues for scientific journals.
Experience
Teaching Associate Professor. September 2025 - present
Stevens Institute of Technology, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
Use of large language models, sequencing data and in vitro culture to characterize the functional consequences of cell interaction with extracellular matrix (ECM), amino acid osmolytes, and perfluorinated alkylated substances (PFAS).
AAAS-STP Smart Health Fellow at the National Science Foundation. September 2024 - September 2025.
The United States National Science Foundation, Received AAAS STP fellowship to train for Program Director role at NSF.
Co-leading management of scientific programs in the Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS) Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) Directorate.
Assistant Professor. January 2018 - September 2025
Stevens Institute of Technology, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. Integration of tissue engineering with cancer biology using basement membranes, amino acids, live-cell microscopy, and mouse models.
Visiting Assistant Professor. May 2021 -May 2023
Jersey City Medical Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Tumor board member contributing to developing a joint program between Stevens and Jersey City Medical Center to allow our pre-med undergrads to conduct summer internships in the clinical department.
Postdoctoral Fellow. August 2008 - December 2017
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Developed tissue models of ovarian cancer metastasis.
Graduate Student August 2001 - July 2008
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Developed microscopy approaches to study the dynamics of matrix adhesions.
Research Associate I and II May 1999 - July 2001
Henry M. Jackson Foundation, US Army HIV Research Program
Technical support to Dr. Thomas Vancott, Dr. Deborah Birx, and Anthony Fauci's laboratory.
Stevens Institute of Technology, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
Use of large language models, sequencing data and in vitro culture to characterize the functional consequences of cell interaction with extracellular matrix (ECM), amino acid osmolytes, and perfluorinated alkylated substances (PFAS).
AAAS-STP Smart Health Fellow at the National Science Foundation. September 2024 - September 2025.
The United States National Science Foundation, Received AAAS STP fellowship to train for Program Director role at NSF.
Co-leading management of scientific programs in the Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS) Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) Directorate.
Assistant Professor. January 2018 - September 2025
Stevens Institute of Technology, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. Integration of tissue engineering with cancer biology using basement membranes, amino acids, live-cell microscopy, and mouse models.
Visiting Assistant Professor. May 2021 -May 2023
Jersey City Medical Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Tumor board member contributing to developing a joint program between Stevens and Jersey City Medical Center to allow our pre-med undergrads to conduct summer internships in the clinical department.
Postdoctoral Fellow. August 2008 - December 2017
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Developed tissue models of ovarian cancer metastasis.
Graduate Student August 2001 - July 2008
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Developed microscopy approaches to study the dynamics of matrix adhesions.
Research Associate I and II May 1999 - July 2001
Henry M. Jackson Foundation, US Army HIV Research Program
Technical support to Dr. Thomas Vancott, Dr. Deborah Birx, and Anthony Fauci's laboratory.
Institutional Service
- Faculty Advisory Committee Member with The Teaching and Learning Center Member
- The SES Dean’s Faculty Advisory Council Member
- Non-Tenure Track Faculty Search Committee. Bi-weekly and later weekly meetings and interviews. Member
- Tenure Track Faculty Search Committee Member
- Expansion and Operation of The Stevens Facility for Animal Research Committee. Member
- CCB Department/Health Profession Subcommittee for Strategic Planning Member
- CCB Graduate education committee member Member
- SES/Stevens Appointed by the Dean as a member of Department Chair search committee Member
- Graduate Student Recruitment Chemistry Chemical Biology Member
- Undergraduate Student Recruitment Member
Professional Service
- Natinal Cancer Institute Panelist
- National Cancer Institute Panelist
- National Cancer Institute Panelist
- NCI Panel Proposal Reviewer National Cancer Institute
- Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology Associate Editor
- Study Section NCI Predoc to Postdoc Fellow Transition Award (F99/K00) Scientific Reviewer
- DOD-CDMRP Member of the study section CDMRP DOD FY22 OCRP Study section
- NIH/NCI Member of the study section NIH/NCI Special Emphasis Panel 10 ZCA1 TCRB-J Study section
- Cancers ( journal) Special Issue Lead Editor
- NIH/NCI Study section NIH/NCI ZCA1 TCRB5, Clinical and Translational Exploratory R21 panel. Ovarian and Prostate Cancer panel.
- DOD/CDMRP Study section CDMRP Department of Defense, Ovarian Cancer Research Program.
- MDPI/Cancers Contributing Editor
- Cancer Research, Cancer Letters, Cancers, Review Editor
- Oncotarget Review Editor
Honors and Awards
2001-2006 Pre-doctoral, Ruth Kirschstein Award, NCI
2006-2009 Post-doctoral, Cell Migration Consortium, NIH
2009 -2012 Post-doctoral, Ruth Kirschstein Award, NCI
2012-2017 Post-doctoral, Adelson Research Foundation
2015 Post-doctoral, Ovarian Cancer Action HHMT fellowship, United Kingdom
2015 Post-doctoral, The Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research Scholar-in-Training Award
2006-2009 Post-doctoral, Cell Migration Consortium, NIH
2009 -2012 Post-doctoral, Ruth Kirschstein Award, NCI
2012-2017 Post-doctoral, Adelson Research Foundation
2015 Post-doctoral, Ovarian Cancer Action HHMT fellowship, United Kingdom
2015 Post-doctoral, The Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research Scholar-in-Training Award
Professional Societies
- AAAS – American Association for Advancement of Science Member
- ASMB – American Society for Matrix Biology Member
- Biomedical Engineering Society Member
- AACR – American Society for Cancer Research Member
Grants, Contracts and Funds
2024-2025 American Association for Advancement of Science, Science and Technology Policy Fellowship, Washington DC.
2023-2024 Kaleidoscope of Hope Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation: Nutritional Supplement Taurine Suppresses Ovarian Cancer Growth.
2020 -2023 NCI/NIH: High-Resolution Dynamic Imaging of Ovarian Cancer Metastasis Post Chemotherapy.
2019-2021 Kaleidoscope of Hope Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation: Application of Photoreactive Probes and Fiberoptic Devices for Detection of Fallopian Tube Cell Transformation in Organoid-On-Chip Models of Ovarian Cancer.
2019 -2024 OLIPASS.INC: Targeting SLC6A6 in Therapy Resistant Ovarian Cancer
2023-2024 Kaleidoscope of Hope Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation: Nutritional Supplement Taurine Suppresses Ovarian Cancer Growth.
2020 -2023 NCI/NIH: High-Resolution Dynamic Imaging of Ovarian Cancer Metastasis Post Chemotherapy.
2019-2021 Kaleidoscope of Hope Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation: Application of Photoreactive Probes and Fiberoptic Devices for Detection of Fallopian Tube Cell Transformation in Organoid-On-Chip Models of Ovarian Cancer.
2019 -2024 OLIPASS.INC: Targeting SLC6A6 in Therapy Resistant Ovarian Cancer
Selected Publications
Since Joining Stevens
1. Sadaf Farsinejad, Daniel Centeno, Jan Savas-Carstens, Teagan Polotaye, Tonja Pavlovič, Pouria Babvey, Taru Muranen, Cezary Miedziarek, Piotr Jasiński, Elżbieta Dziabaszewska, Mikołaj Piotr Zaborowski, Pek Yee Lum, Laura A Martin, Marcin P Iwanicki
Suppression of Ovarian Cancer Cell Proliferation Is Associated with Upregulation of Cell-Matrix Adhesion Programs and Integrin-β4-Induced Cell Protection from Cisplatin. 2025PMID: 40361400 PMCID: PMC12070841 DOI: 10.3390/cancers17091472
2. Zhou X, Berenger E, Shi Y, Shirokova V, Kochetkova E, Becirovic T, Zhang B, Kaminskyy VO, Esmaeilian Y, Hosaka K, Lindskog C, Hydbring P, Ekman S, Cao Y, Genander M, Iwanicki M, Norberg E, Vakifahmetoglu-Norberg H.
Chaperone-mediated autophagy regulates the metastatic state of mesenchymal tumors.2025EMBO Mol Med. 2025 Mar 7. doi: 10.1038/s44321-025-00210-w. PMID: 40055574
3. Puleo N, Ram H, Dziubinski ML, Carvette D, Teitel J, Sekhar SC, Bedi K, Robida A, Nakashima MM, Farsinejad S, Iwanicki M, Senkowski W, Ray A, Bollerman TJ, Dunbar J, Richardson P, Taddei A, Hudson C, DiFeo A.
Identification of a TNIK-CDK9 axis as a targetable strategy for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.2025 Mol Cancer Ther. 2025 Jan 28. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-24-0785. PMID: 39873147
4. Teagan Polotaye, Daniel Centeno and Marcin Iwanicki. Mutant p53R175H-Associated Protection of Ovarian Cancer Precursor Cells from Cisplatin Requires Expression of SLC6A6 Taurine Transporter. Journal of Student Research, volume 13 issue 3 (2024); ISSN: 2167-1907.
5. Michael Greenberg, Aleksandra Gladych-Macioszek, Agnieszka Klupczynska-Gabryszak, Szymon Plewa, Jan Matysiak, Mikolaj Zaborowski, Marcin Iwanicki and Daniel Centeno. Taurine But Not Proline Protects Cells from Cisplatin, Activates p21, and Fibronectin Expression. Journal of Student Research, volume 13 issue 3 (2024); ISSN: 2167-1907.
6. Daniel Centeno*, Sadaf Farsinejad*, Elena Kochetkova, Tatiana Volpari, Agnieszka Klupczynska-Gabryszak, Douglas Kung, Teagan Polotaye**, Emily Hyde**, Michael Greenberg**, Tonja Pavlovic*, Sarah Alshehri, William Sullivan, Szymon Plewa, Helin Vakifahmetoglu-Norberg, Frederick J. Monsma Jr., Patricia A. J. Muller, JanMatysiak, Mikolaj Zaborowski, Analisa DiFeo, Laura A. Martin, Erik Norberg, Marcin Iwanicki The nutritional supplement taurine activates p53-dependent and independent tumor suppressor mechanisms in various cellular models of ovarian cancer.
bioRxiv 2023.02.24.529893; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.02.24.529893
7. Marcin Iwanicki, Tonja Pavlovic*, Panteha Behboodi**
Peer-Reviewed Book Chapter Title: Engineering Approaches in Ovarian Cancer Cell Culture. Current Cancer Research
* Graduate student in my laboratory
** Graduate student in Woo Lee’s laboratory
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG Electronic ISSN:2199-2592. April 2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22802-5_8
8. Sarah Alshehri*, Tonja Pavlovič*, Sadaf Farsinejad*, Panteha Behboodi*^, Li Quan*^, Daniel Centeno*, Douglas Kung**, Marta Rezler, Woo Lee, Piotr Jasiński, Elżbieta Dziabaszewska, Ewa Nowak-Markwitz, Dilhan Kalyon, Mikołaj P. Zaborowski, Marcin Iwanicki Extracellular Matrix Modulates Outgrowth Dynamics in Ovarian Cancer. Advanced Biology; DOI: 10.1002/adbi.202200197 – Citations - not reported
9. Tangri A, Lighty K, Loganathan J, Mesmar F, Podicheti R, Zhang C, Iwanicki M, Drapkin R, Nakshatri H, Mitra S. Deubiquitinase UCHL1 Maintains Protein Homeostasis through the PSMA7-APEH-Proteasome Axis in High-grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma. 2021 July; 19(7):1168-1181. doi: 10.1158/1541-7786. Molecular Cancer Research-20-0883. PMID: 33753553 Citations - not reported
10. Izar B, Tirosh I, Stover EH, Wakiro I, Cuoco MS, Alter I, Rodman C, Leeson R, Su MJ, Shah P, Iwanicki M, Walker SR, Kanodia A, Melms JC, Mei S, Lin JR, Porter CBM, Slyper M, Waldman J, JerIzar B, Tirosh I, Stover EH, Wakiro I, Cuoco MS, Alter I, Rodman C, Leeson R, Su MJ, Shah P, Iwanicki M, Walker SR, Kanodia A, Melms JC, Mei S, Lin JR, Porter CBM, Slyper M, Waldman J, Jerby-Arnon L, Ashenberg O, Brinker TJ, Mills C, Rogava M, Vigneau S, Sorger PK, Garraway LA, Konstantinopoulos PA, Liu JF, Matulonis U, Johnson BE, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Rotem A, Regev A. A Single-Cell Landscape of High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer. Nature Medicine. 2020 Aug 26(8):1271-1279. doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-0926-0. Online ahead of print. PMID: 32572264 Citations 647
11. Kozlova N, Grossman JE, Iwanicki MP, Muranen T. The Interplay of the Extracellular Matrix and Stromal Cells as a Drug Target in Stroma-Rich Cancers. Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2020 Jan 31. pii: S0165-6147(20)30001-8. doi: 10.1016/j.tips.2020.01.001. Citations 258
12. Farsinejad S*, Cattabiani T, Muranen T, Iwanicki M. Ovarian Cancer Dissemination-A Cell Biologist’s Perspective. Cancers. 2019 Dec 6;11(12):1957. doi: 10.3390/cancers11121957. Review. PubMed PMID: 31817625. Citations 126
* Graduate student
13. Zaborowski MP, Lee K, Na YJ, Sammarco A, Zhang X, Iwanicki M, Cheah PS, Lin HY, Zinter M, Chou CY, Fulci G, Tannous BA, Lai CP, Birrer MJ, Weissleder R, Lee H, Breakefield XO. Methods for Systematic Identification of Membrane Proteins for Specific Capture of Cancer-Derived Extracellular Vesicles. Cell Rep. 2019 Apr 2;27(1):255-268.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.03.003. PMID: 30943406 Citations 213
Prior to Joining Stevens
14. Eriksson M, Ambroise G, Ouchida AT, Lima Queiroz A, Smith D, Gimenez-Cassina A, Iwanicki MP, Muller PA, Norberg E, Vakifahmetoglu-Norberg H. Effect of Mutant p53 Proteins on Glycolysis and Mitochondrial Metabolism. Mol Cell Biol. 2017 Nov 28;37(24). Citations 787
15. Mauricio Medrano, Laudine Communal, Kevin Brown, Marcin Iwanicki, Josee Normand, Joshua Paterson, Fabrice Sircoulomb, Paul Krzyzanowski, Marian Novak, Sasha A. Doodnauth, Fernando Suarez Saiz, Jane Cullis, Rima Al-awar, Benjamin G. Neel, John McPherson, Ronny Drapkin, Laurie Ailles, Anne-Marie Mes-Massons, and Robert Rottapel. Interrogation of functional cell surface markers identifies CD151 dependency in high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Cell Reports 2017 March 7, 18(10) :2343-2358. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.02.028. Citations 361
16. Taru Muranen, Marcin P. Iwanicki, Natasha L.Curry, Julie Hwang, Cory D. Dubois, Jonathan L.Coloff, Daniel S.Hitchcock, Clary B. Clish, Joan S. Brugge and Nada Y. Kalaany. Starved epithelial cells uptake extracellular matrix for survival. Nature Communications 2017, January 10th 2017; 8:13989. doi: 10.1038/ncomms13989 Citations 1609
17. Marcin P. Iwanicki, Hsing-Yu Chen, Claudia Iavarone, Ioannis K. Zervantonakis,, Taru Muranen, Marián Novak, Tan A. Ince, Ronny Drapkin and Joan S. Brugge. Mutant p53 regulates ovarian cancer transformed phenotypes through autocrine matrix deposition. J Clin Invest. Insight 2016 July 7th doi:10.1172/jci.insight.86829 Citations 1098
18. Sheets JN, Iwanicki M, Liu JF, Howitt BE, Hirsch MS, Gubbels JA, Drapkin R, Egland KA. SUSD2 expression in high-grade serous ovarian cancer correlates with increased patient survival and defective mesothelial clearance Oncogenesis. 2016 Oct 24;5(10):e264. doi: 10.1038/oncsis.2016.64. PMID: 2777569. Citations 150
19. Bowtell DD, Böhm S, Ahmed AA, Aspuria PJ, Bast RC Jr, Beral V, Berek JS, Birrer MJ, Blagden S, Bookman MA, Brenton JD, Chiappinelli KB, Martins FC, Coukos G, Drapkin R, Edmondson R, Fotopoulou C, Gabra H, Galon J, Gourley C, Heong V, Huntsman DG, Iwanicki M, Karlan BY, Kaye A, Lengyel E, Levine DA, Lu KH, McNeish IA, Menon U, Narod SA, Nelson BH, Nephew KP, Pharoah P, Powell DJ Jr, Ramos P, Romero IL, Scott CL, Sood AK, Stronach EA, Balkwill FR. Rethinking ovarian cancer II: reducing mortality from high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Nat Rev Cancer. 2015 Nov;15(11):668-79. doi: 10.1038/nrc4019. PMID: 26493647 Citations 11460
20. Davidowitz RA, Selfors LM, Iwanicki MP, Elias KM, Karst A, Piao H, Ince TA, Drage MG, Dering J, Konecny GE, Matulonis U, Mills GB, Slamon DJ, Drapkin R, Brugge JS. Mesenchymal gene program-expressing ovarian cancer spheroids exhibit enhanced mesothelial clearance. J Clin Invest. 2014 Jun;124(6):2611-25. doi: 10.1172/JCI69815. Epub 2014 Apr 24. PMID: 24762435 Citations 3100
21. Maninová M, Iwanicki MP, Vomastek T. Emerging role for nuclear rotation and orientation in cell migration. Cell Adh Migr. 2014;8(1):42-8. doi: 10.4161/cam.27761. Epub 2013 Jan 1.PMID: 24589621 Citations 382
22. Merritt MA, Bentink S, Schwede M, Iwanicki MP, Quackenbush J, Woo T, Agoston ES, Reinhardt F, Crum CP, Berkowitz RS, Mok SC, Witt AE, Jones MA, Wang B, Ince TA Gene Expression Signature of Normal Cell-of-Origin Predicts Ovarian Tumor Outcomes. PLoS One. 2013 Nov 26;8(11):e80314. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0080314. eCollection 2013. PMID: 24303006 Citations 1088
23. Vakifahmetoglu-Norberg H, Kim M, Xia HG, Iwanicki MP, Ofengeim D, Coloff JL, Pan L, Ince TA, Kroemer G, Brugge JS, Yuan J. Chaperone-mediated autophagy degrades mutant p53. Genes Dev. 2013 Aug 1;27(15):1718-30. doi: 10.1101/gad.220897.113. PMID: 23913924 Citations 4327
24. Maninová M, Klímová Z, Parsons JT, Weber MJ, Iwanicki MP, Vomastek T. The reorientation of cell nucleus promotes the establishment of front-rear polarity in migrating fibroblasts. J Mol Biol. 2013 Jun 12;425(11):2039-2055. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2013.02.034. Epub 2013 Mar 21. PMID: 23524135 Citations 450
25. Rachel A. Davidowitz, Marcin P. Iwanicki and Joan S. Brugge. In vitro Mesothelial Clearance Assay that Models the Early Steps of Ovarian Cancer Metastasis. J Vis Exp. 2012 Feb 17;(60). pii: 3888. doi:10.3791/3888 Citations 490
26. Muranen T, Selfors LM, Worster DT, Iwanicki MP, Song L, Morales FC, Gao S, Mills GB, Brugge JS. Inhibition of PI3K/mTOR leads to adaptive resistance in matrix-attached cancer cells. Cancer Cell. 2012 Feb 14;21(2):227-39. doi: 10.1016/j.ccr.2011.12.024. PMID: 22340595. Citations 21061
27. Iwanicki MP, Davidowitz RA, Ng MR, Besser A, Muranen T, Merritt M, Danuser G, Ince TA, Brugge JS. Ovarian cancer spheroids use myosin-generated force to clear the mesothelium. Cancer Discov. 2011 Jul;1(2):144-57. doi: 10.1158/2159-8274.CD-11-0010. PMID: 22303516 Citations 8593
29. Iwanicki MP, Brugge JS. Transcriptional regulation of metastatic [Id]entity by KLF17.
Genome Biol. 2009;10(11):244. doi: 10.1186/gb-2009-10-11-244. Epub 2009 Nov 30. PMID: 19951400 Citations 245
30. Muller PA, Caswell PT, Doyle B, Iwanicki MP, Tan EH, Karim S, Lukashchuk N, Gillespie DA, Ludwig RL, Gosselin P, Cromer A, Brugge JS, Sansom OJ, Norman JC, Vousden KH. Mutant p53 drives invasion by promoting integrin recycling. Cell. 2009 Dec 24;139(7):1327-41. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2009.11.026. PMID: 20064378 Citations 28510
31. Vomastek T, Iwanicki MP, Burack WR, Tiwari D, Kumar D, Parsons JT, Weber MJ, Nandicoori VK. Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 (ERK2) phosphorylation sites and docking domain on the nuclear pore complex protein Tpr cooperatively regulate ERK2-Tpr interaction. Mol Cell Biol. 2008 Nov;28(22):6954-66. doi: 10.1128/MCB.00925-08. Epub 2008 Sep 15. PMID: 18794356, (co-first author) Citations 2058
32. Iwanicki MP, Vomastek T, Tilghman RW, Martin KH, Banerjee J, Wedegaertner PB, Parsons JT. FAK, PDZ-RhoGEF and ROCKII cooperate to regulate adhesion movement and trailing-edge retraction in fibroblasts. J Cell Sci 2008 Mar 15;121(Pt 6):895-905. doi: 10.1242/jcs.020941. Epub 2008 Feb 26. PMID: 18303050 Citations 4433
33. Vomastek T, Iwanicki MP, Schaeffer HJ, Tarcsafalvi A, Parsons JT, Weber MJ. RACK1 targets the extracellular signal-regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway to link integrin engagement with focal adhesion disassembly and cell motility. Mol Cell Biol. 2007 Dec;27(23):8296-305. doi: 10.1128/MCB.00598-07. Epub 2007 Oct 1. PMID: 17908799 Citations 1977
34. Slack-Davis JK, Martin KH, Tilghman RW, Iwanicki M, Ung EJ, Autry C, Luzzio MJ, Cooper B, Kath JC, Roberts WG, Parsons JT. Cellular characterization of a novel focal adhesion kinase inhibitor. J Biol Chem. 2007 May 18;282(20):14845-52. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M606695200. Epub 2007 Mar 28. PMID: 17395594 Citations 15588
35. Tilghman RW, Slack-Davis JK, Sergina N, Martin KH, Iwanicki M, Hershey ED, Beggs HE, Reichardt LF, Parsons JT. Focal adhesion kinase is required for the spatial organization of the leading edge in migrating cells. J Cell Sci.2005 Jun 15;118(Pt 12):2613-23. doi: 10.1242/jcs.02380. Epub 2005 May 24. PMID: 15914540 Citations 8580
36. Chen X, Scala G, Quinto I, Liu W, Chun TW, Justement JS, Cohen OJ, van Cott TC, Iwanicki M, Lewis MG, Greenhouse J, Barry T, Venzon D, Fauci AS. Protection of Rhesus Macaques against Disease Progression from Pathogenic SHIV-89.6PD by Vaccination with Phage-Displayed HIV-1 Epitopes. Nature Medicine. 2001 Nov;7(11):1225-31. doi: 10.1038/nm1101-1225. Citations 2364
1. Sadaf Farsinejad, Daniel Centeno, Jan Savas-Carstens, Teagan Polotaye, Tonja Pavlovič, Pouria Babvey, Taru Muranen, Cezary Miedziarek, Piotr Jasiński, Elżbieta Dziabaszewska, Mikołaj Piotr Zaborowski, Pek Yee Lum, Laura A Martin, Marcin P Iwanicki
Suppression of Ovarian Cancer Cell Proliferation Is Associated with Upregulation of Cell-Matrix Adhesion Programs and Integrin-β4-Induced Cell Protection from Cisplatin. 2025PMID: 40361400 PMCID: PMC12070841 DOI: 10.3390/cancers17091472
2. Zhou X, Berenger E, Shi Y, Shirokova V, Kochetkova E, Becirovic T, Zhang B, Kaminskyy VO, Esmaeilian Y, Hosaka K, Lindskog C, Hydbring P, Ekman S, Cao Y, Genander M, Iwanicki M, Norberg E, Vakifahmetoglu-Norberg H.
Chaperone-mediated autophagy regulates the metastatic state of mesenchymal tumors.2025EMBO Mol Med. 2025 Mar 7. doi: 10.1038/s44321-025-00210-w. PMID: 40055574
3. Puleo N, Ram H, Dziubinski ML, Carvette D, Teitel J, Sekhar SC, Bedi K, Robida A, Nakashima MM, Farsinejad S, Iwanicki M, Senkowski W, Ray A, Bollerman TJ, Dunbar J, Richardson P, Taddei A, Hudson C, DiFeo A.
Identification of a TNIK-CDK9 axis as a targetable strategy for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.2025 Mol Cancer Ther. 2025 Jan 28. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-24-0785. PMID: 39873147
4. Teagan Polotaye, Daniel Centeno and Marcin Iwanicki. Mutant p53R175H-Associated Protection of Ovarian Cancer Precursor Cells from Cisplatin Requires Expression of SLC6A6 Taurine Transporter. Journal of Student Research, volume 13 issue 3 (2024); ISSN: 2167-1907.
5. Michael Greenberg, Aleksandra Gladych-Macioszek, Agnieszka Klupczynska-Gabryszak, Szymon Plewa, Jan Matysiak, Mikolaj Zaborowski, Marcin Iwanicki and Daniel Centeno. Taurine But Not Proline Protects Cells from Cisplatin, Activates p21, and Fibronectin Expression. Journal of Student Research, volume 13 issue 3 (2024); ISSN: 2167-1907.
6. Daniel Centeno*, Sadaf Farsinejad*, Elena Kochetkova, Tatiana Volpari, Agnieszka Klupczynska-Gabryszak, Douglas Kung, Teagan Polotaye**, Emily Hyde**, Michael Greenberg**, Tonja Pavlovic*, Sarah Alshehri, William Sullivan, Szymon Plewa, Helin Vakifahmetoglu-Norberg, Frederick J. Monsma Jr., Patricia A. J. Muller, JanMatysiak, Mikolaj Zaborowski, Analisa DiFeo, Laura A. Martin, Erik Norberg, Marcin Iwanicki The nutritional supplement taurine activates p53-dependent and independent tumor suppressor mechanisms in various cellular models of ovarian cancer.
bioRxiv 2023.02.24.529893; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.02.24.529893
7. Marcin Iwanicki, Tonja Pavlovic*, Panteha Behboodi**
Peer-Reviewed Book Chapter Title: Engineering Approaches in Ovarian Cancer Cell Culture. Current Cancer Research
* Graduate student in my laboratory
** Graduate student in Woo Lee’s laboratory
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG Electronic ISSN:2199-2592. April 2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22802-5_8
8. Sarah Alshehri*, Tonja Pavlovič*, Sadaf Farsinejad*, Panteha Behboodi*^, Li Quan*^, Daniel Centeno*, Douglas Kung**, Marta Rezler, Woo Lee, Piotr Jasiński, Elżbieta Dziabaszewska, Ewa Nowak-Markwitz, Dilhan Kalyon, Mikołaj P. Zaborowski, Marcin Iwanicki Extracellular Matrix Modulates Outgrowth Dynamics in Ovarian Cancer. Advanced Biology; DOI: 10.1002/adbi.202200197 – Citations - not reported
9. Tangri A, Lighty K, Loganathan J, Mesmar F, Podicheti R, Zhang C, Iwanicki M, Drapkin R, Nakshatri H, Mitra S. Deubiquitinase UCHL1 Maintains Protein Homeostasis through the PSMA7-APEH-Proteasome Axis in High-grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma. 2021 July; 19(7):1168-1181. doi: 10.1158/1541-7786. Molecular Cancer Research-20-0883. PMID: 33753553 Citations - not reported
10. Izar B, Tirosh I, Stover EH, Wakiro I, Cuoco MS, Alter I, Rodman C, Leeson R, Su MJ, Shah P, Iwanicki M, Walker SR, Kanodia A, Melms JC, Mei S, Lin JR, Porter CBM, Slyper M, Waldman J, JerIzar B, Tirosh I, Stover EH, Wakiro I, Cuoco MS, Alter I, Rodman C, Leeson R, Su MJ, Shah P, Iwanicki M, Walker SR, Kanodia A, Melms JC, Mei S, Lin JR, Porter CBM, Slyper M, Waldman J, Jerby-Arnon L, Ashenberg O, Brinker TJ, Mills C, Rogava M, Vigneau S, Sorger PK, Garraway LA, Konstantinopoulos PA, Liu JF, Matulonis U, Johnson BE, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Rotem A, Regev A. A Single-Cell Landscape of High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer. Nature Medicine. 2020 Aug 26(8):1271-1279. doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-0926-0. Online ahead of print. PMID: 32572264 Citations 647
11. Kozlova N, Grossman JE, Iwanicki MP, Muranen T. The Interplay of the Extracellular Matrix and Stromal Cells as a Drug Target in Stroma-Rich Cancers. Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2020 Jan 31. pii: S0165-6147(20)30001-8. doi: 10.1016/j.tips.2020.01.001. Citations 258
12. Farsinejad S*, Cattabiani T, Muranen T, Iwanicki M. Ovarian Cancer Dissemination-A Cell Biologist’s Perspective. Cancers. 2019 Dec 6;11(12):1957. doi: 10.3390/cancers11121957. Review. PubMed PMID: 31817625. Citations 126
* Graduate student
13. Zaborowski MP, Lee K, Na YJ, Sammarco A, Zhang X, Iwanicki M, Cheah PS, Lin HY, Zinter M, Chou CY, Fulci G, Tannous BA, Lai CP, Birrer MJ, Weissleder R, Lee H, Breakefield XO. Methods for Systematic Identification of Membrane Proteins for Specific Capture of Cancer-Derived Extracellular Vesicles. Cell Rep. 2019 Apr 2;27(1):255-268.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.03.003. PMID: 30943406 Citations 213
Prior to Joining Stevens
14. Eriksson M, Ambroise G, Ouchida AT, Lima Queiroz A, Smith D, Gimenez-Cassina A, Iwanicki MP, Muller PA, Norberg E, Vakifahmetoglu-Norberg H. Effect of Mutant p53 Proteins on Glycolysis and Mitochondrial Metabolism. Mol Cell Biol. 2017 Nov 28;37(24). Citations 787
15. Mauricio Medrano, Laudine Communal, Kevin Brown, Marcin Iwanicki, Josee Normand, Joshua Paterson, Fabrice Sircoulomb, Paul Krzyzanowski, Marian Novak, Sasha A. Doodnauth, Fernando Suarez Saiz, Jane Cullis, Rima Al-awar, Benjamin G. Neel, John McPherson, Ronny Drapkin, Laurie Ailles, Anne-Marie Mes-Massons, and Robert Rottapel. Interrogation of functional cell surface markers identifies CD151 dependency in high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Cell Reports 2017 March 7, 18(10) :2343-2358. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.02.028. Citations 361
16. Taru Muranen, Marcin P. Iwanicki, Natasha L.Curry, Julie Hwang, Cory D. Dubois, Jonathan L.Coloff, Daniel S.Hitchcock, Clary B. Clish, Joan S. Brugge and Nada Y. Kalaany. Starved epithelial cells uptake extracellular matrix for survival. Nature Communications 2017, January 10th 2017; 8:13989. doi: 10.1038/ncomms13989 Citations 1609
17. Marcin P. Iwanicki, Hsing-Yu Chen, Claudia Iavarone, Ioannis K. Zervantonakis,, Taru Muranen, Marián Novak, Tan A. Ince, Ronny Drapkin and Joan S. Brugge. Mutant p53 regulates ovarian cancer transformed phenotypes through autocrine matrix deposition. J Clin Invest. Insight 2016 July 7th doi:10.1172/jci.insight.86829 Citations 1098
18. Sheets JN, Iwanicki M, Liu JF, Howitt BE, Hirsch MS, Gubbels JA, Drapkin R, Egland KA. SUSD2 expression in high-grade serous ovarian cancer correlates with increased patient survival and defective mesothelial clearance Oncogenesis. 2016 Oct 24;5(10):e264. doi: 10.1038/oncsis.2016.64. PMID: 2777569. Citations 150
19. Bowtell DD, Böhm S, Ahmed AA, Aspuria PJ, Bast RC Jr, Beral V, Berek JS, Birrer MJ, Blagden S, Bookman MA, Brenton JD, Chiappinelli KB, Martins FC, Coukos G, Drapkin R, Edmondson R, Fotopoulou C, Gabra H, Galon J, Gourley C, Heong V, Huntsman DG, Iwanicki M, Karlan BY, Kaye A, Lengyel E, Levine DA, Lu KH, McNeish IA, Menon U, Narod SA, Nelson BH, Nephew KP, Pharoah P, Powell DJ Jr, Ramos P, Romero IL, Scott CL, Sood AK, Stronach EA, Balkwill FR. Rethinking ovarian cancer II: reducing mortality from high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Nat Rev Cancer. 2015 Nov;15(11):668-79. doi: 10.1038/nrc4019. PMID: 26493647 Citations 11460
20. Davidowitz RA, Selfors LM, Iwanicki MP, Elias KM, Karst A, Piao H, Ince TA, Drage MG, Dering J, Konecny GE, Matulonis U, Mills GB, Slamon DJ, Drapkin R, Brugge JS. Mesenchymal gene program-expressing ovarian cancer spheroids exhibit enhanced mesothelial clearance. J Clin Invest. 2014 Jun;124(6):2611-25. doi: 10.1172/JCI69815. Epub 2014 Apr 24. PMID: 24762435 Citations 3100
21. Maninová M, Iwanicki MP, Vomastek T. Emerging role for nuclear rotation and orientation in cell migration. Cell Adh Migr. 2014;8(1):42-8. doi: 10.4161/cam.27761. Epub 2013 Jan 1.PMID: 24589621 Citations 382
22. Merritt MA, Bentink S, Schwede M, Iwanicki MP, Quackenbush J, Woo T, Agoston ES, Reinhardt F, Crum CP, Berkowitz RS, Mok SC, Witt AE, Jones MA, Wang B, Ince TA Gene Expression Signature of Normal Cell-of-Origin Predicts Ovarian Tumor Outcomes. PLoS One. 2013 Nov 26;8(11):e80314. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0080314. eCollection 2013. PMID: 24303006 Citations 1088
23. Vakifahmetoglu-Norberg H, Kim M, Xia HG, Iwanicki MP, Ofengeim D, Coloff JL, Pan L, Ince TA, Kroemer G, Brugge JS, Yuan J. Chaperone-mediated autophagy degrades mutant p53. Genes Dev. 2013 Aug 1;27(15):1718-30. doi: 10.1101/gad.220897.113. PMID: 23913924 Citations 4327
24. Maninová M, Klímová Z, Parsons JT, Weber MJ, Iwanicki MP, Vomastek T. The reorientation of cell nucleus promotes the establishment of front-rear polarity in migrating fibroblasts. J Mol Biol. 2013 Jun 12;425(11):2039-2055. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2013.02.034. Epub 2013 Mar 21. PMID: 23524135 Citations 450
25. Rachel A. Davidowitz, Marcin P. Iwanicki and Joan S. Brugge. In vitro Mesothelial Clearance Assay that Models the Early Steps of Ovarian Cancer Metastasis. J Vis Exp. 2012 Feb 17;(60). pii: 3888. doi:10.3791/3888 Citations 490
26. Muranen T, Selfors LM, Worster DT, Iwanicki MP, Song L, Morales FC, Gao S, Mills GB, Brugge JS. Inhibition of PI3K/mTOR leads to adaptive resistance in matrix-attached cancer cells. Cancer Cell. 2012 Feb 14;21(2):227-39. doi: 10.1016/j.ccr.2011.12.024. PMID: 22340595. Citations 21061
27. Iwanicki MP, Davidowitz RA, Ng MR, Besser A, Muranen T, Merritt M, Danuser G, Ince TA, Brugge JS. Ovarian cancer spheroids use myosin-generated force to clear the mesothelium. Cancer Discov. 2011 Jul;1(2):144-57. doi: 10.1158/2159-8274.CD-11-0010. PMID: 22303516 Citations 8593
29. Iwanicki MP, Brugge JS. Transcriptional regulation of metastatic [Id]entity by KLF17.
Genome Biol. 2009;10(11):244. doi: 10.1186/gb-2009-10-11-244. Epub 2009 Nov 30. PMID: 19951400 Citations 245
30. Muller PA, Caswell PT, Doyle B, Iwanicki MP, Tan EH, Karim S, Lukashchuk N, Gillespie DA, Ludwig RL, Gosselin P, Cromer A, Brugge JS, Sansom OJ, Norman JC, Vousden KH. Mutant p53 drives invasion by promoting integrin recycling. Cell. 2009 Dec 24;139(7):1327-41. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2009.11.026. PMID: 20064378 Citations 28510
31. Vomastek T, Iwanicki MP, Burack WR, Tiwari D, Kumar D, Parsons JT, Weber MJ, Nandicoori VK. Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 (ERK2) phosphorylation sites and docking domain on the nuclear pore complex protein Tpr cooperatively regulate ERK2-Tpr interaction. Mol Cell Biol. 2008 Nov;28(22):6954-66. doi: 10.1128/MCB.00925-08. Epub 2008 Sep 15. PMID: 18794356, (co-first author) Citations 2058
32. Iwanicki MP, Vomastek T, Tilghman RW, Martin KH, Banerjee J, Wedegaertner PB, Parsons JT. FAK, PDZ-RhoGEF and ROCKII cooperate to regulate adhesion movement and trailing-edge retraction in fibroblasts. J Cell Sci 2008 Mar 15;121(Pt 6):895-905. doi: 10.1242/jcs.020941. Epub 2008 Feb 26. PMID: 18303050 Citations 4433
33. Vomastek T, Iwanicki MP, Schaeffer HJ, Tarcsafalvi A, Parsons JT, Weber MJ. RACK1 targets the extracellular signal-regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway to link integrin engagement with focal adhesion disassembly and cell motility. Mol Cell Biol. 2007 Dec;27(23):8296-305. doi: 10.1128/MCB.00598-07. Epub 2007 Oct 1. PMID: 17908799 Citations 1977
34. Slack-Davis JK, Martin KH, Tilghman RW, Iwanicki M, Ung EJ, Autry C, Luzzio MJ, Cooper B, Kath JC, Roberts WG, Parsons JT. Cellular characterization of a novel focal adhesion kinase inhibitor. J Biol Chem. 2007 May 18;282(20):14845-52. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M606695200. Epub 2007 Mar 28. PMID: 17395594 Citations 15588
35. Tilghman RW, Slack-Davis JK, Sergina N, Martin KH, Iwanicki M, Hershey ED, Beggs HE, Reichardt LF, Parsons JT. Focal adhesion kinase is required for the spatial organization of the leading edge in migrating cells. J Cell Sci.2005 Jun 15;118(Pt 12):2613-23. doi: 10.1242/jcs.02380. Epub 2005 May 24. PMID: 15914540 Citations 8580
36. Chen X, Scala G, Quinto I, Liu W, Chun TW, Justement JS, Cohen OJ, van Cott TC, Iwanicki M, Lewis MG, Greenhouse J, Barry T, Venzon D, Fauci AS. Protection of Rhesus Macaques against Disease Progression from Pathogenic SHIV-89.6PD by Vaccination with Phage-Displayed HIV-1 Epitopes. Nature Medicine. 2001 Nov;7(11):1225-31. doi: 10.1038/nm1101-1225. Citations 2364
Courses
BIO526 (Spring 2020 -present)
BIO683, BIO290 (Fall 2022-present)
BIO281, BIO290 (Spring 2025- onward)
BIO683, BIO290 (Fall 2022-present)
BIO281, BIO290 (Spring 2025- onward)