Cosimo Commisso
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cosimocommisso.bsky.social
Cosimo Commisso
@cosimocommisso.bsky.social
Scientist leading a pancreatic cancer research lab in San Diego, California. Our interests include metabolism, pH homeostasis, aging and cellular trafficking.
www.commissolab.com
Reposted by Cosimo Commisso
I will be giving talks at UC San Diego (Dept Bioengineering) and Sanford Burnham Prebys Institute this coming Friday and the following Tuesday in La Jolla.

I will talk about 3D mapping of solid tumors and new CAR T therapies to resolve them.

Hope to see you there.
February 8, 2026 at 10:36 PM
Reposted by Cosimo Commisso
One of my concerns with AI-assisted research in biology is that we're already looking only in the lamplight and AI incentivizes us to narrow the beam. Seems like it's happening...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Artificial intelligence tools expand scientists’ impact but contract science’s focus - Nature
Artificial intelligence boosts individual scientists’ output, citations and career progression, but collectively narrows research diversity and reduces collaboration, concentrating work in data-rich a...
www.nature.com
January 15, 2026 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Cosimo Commisso
Good science news to greet the holidays. Our paper is now out @natcomms.nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41.... Outstanding work by two of my postdocs, Aloran and Tyler, and collabs with Nic Fusco, Carol Manhart @templechemistry.bsky.social & Matthew Bainbridge @radychildrensoc.bsky.social 🧵🧪/1
Aberrant cytoplasmic localization of MLH1 characterizes a cell population that seeds breast cancer recurrence - Nature Communications
Mismatch repair pathway is frequently dysregulated across cancer types, commonly represented by loss of MLH1 or MSH2 gene expression. Here the authors model MLH1 missense mutations from patients to st...
www.nature.com
December 15, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Cosimo Commisso
🧪This is a must watch. Please watch tonight's episode @60minutes.bsky.social.

Joan Brugge is an eminent scientist that was one of the first pioneers of 3D culture in breast cancer. She had two of her grants canceled last spring.

We used her protocols to develop our own for our research.
November 10, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Thrilled to share our new paper published in Cancer Research (@theaacr.bsky.social), led by outstanding work from Priyanka Gupta in our lab. Our study uncovers how stromal aging fundamentally reshapes pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) biology. aacrjournals.org/cancerres/ar...
The Aging Microenvironment is a Determinant of Immune Exclusion and Metastatic Fate in Pancreatic Cancer
Abstract. Aging is a critical yet understudied determinant in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) risk and outcomes. Despite a strong epidemiological association with age, conventional PDAC precli...
aacrjournals.org
November 10, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Cosimo Commisso
Join us in sunny California for the 2026 GRC Autophagy meeting! Excited to co-chair with Oliver Florey and vice chairs Helene Knaevelsrud and @robzonculab.bsky.social
Keynote speakers incl. Eileen White, @idikic.bsky.social and Sharon Tooze- Registration is open: link⬇️ www.grc.org/autophagy-in...
2026 Autophagy in Stress, Development and Disease Conference GRC
The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Autophagy in Stress, Development and Disease will be held in Ventura, California. Apply today to reserve your spot.
www.grc.org
October 17, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Thankful for this amazing group. There are many accomplishments to be proud of this year. Looking forward to the discoveries they will continue to make in the future for pancreatic cancer.
September 26, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Cosimo Commisso
Epigenomic changes are critical non-mutational cancer drivers. Jackie Tang in our lab lead a project to generate a phenotypic roadmap of epigenomic regulators in lung tumorigenesis. Lots of unexpected and interesting tumor suppressors including the HBO1 complex doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-24-1565
Functional mapping of epigenomic regulators uncovers coordinated tumor suppression by the HBO1 and MLL1 complexes
Abstract. Epigenomic dysregulation is widespread in cancer. However, the specific epigenomic regulators and the processes they control to drive cancer phenotypes are poorly understood. We employed a n...
doi.org
September 25, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Thrilled to share our first collaboration with @bemerling.bsky.social 🎉 Fantastic work by first author Dr. Gurpreet Arora showing how PI5P4Kα fuels pancreatic cancer cell fitness and reveals a new therapeutic vulnerability. www.cell.com/cell-reports...
PI5P4Kα promotes glucose and iron acquisition to support metabolic fitness in pancreatic cancer
PI5P4Kα is a critical metabolic gatekeeper in PDAC, promoting glucose and iron acquisition to support tumor survival. Arora et al. demonstrate that PI5P4Kα suppression disrupts the metabolic flexibili...
www.cell.com
September 2, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Reposted by Cosimo Commisso
It’s out!!!!! We hope our review on aging, immunity, and cancer is helpful.

Such a rewarding group effort led by Melissa Dolan, with Kendra Libby, Alison Ringle, and @vangalenlab.bsky.social

So grateful to @gabriellebrewer.bsky.social @natrevcancer.nature.com for her efforts and support
August 14, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Cosimo Commisso
Join us in at Moffitt! The Metabolism Program is recruiting at the Assistant Member (Assistant Professor) level. Review of applications starts September 1st. Please share! Details here: moffitt-cancer-center-careers.hctsportals.com/jobs/1883440...
Tenure-Earning Assistant Member Metabolism & Physiology Faculty in Tampa, FL - Moffitt Cancer Center CareersTenure-Earning Assistant Member Metabolism & Physiology Faculty in Tampa, FL - Moffitt Cance...
Working at Moffitt Cancer Center is both a career and a mission. All employees are dedicated to patient care, research and education to advance our fight against this disease.
moffitt-cancer-center-careers.hctsportals.com
August 12, 2025 at 1:11 PM

That's a wrap on a year as Interim Director of the SBP Cancer Center. I learned a lot—about CCSG, leadership, and myself. Building a strong Center takes great science, a strong team, and real institutional support. Super prepared for complex challenges and leading with purpose!
#Cancer #Leadership
August 1, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Looking forward to the Mechanisms and Models Symposium being held at @salkinstitute.bsky.social in a few days. Amazing set of speakers. Excited to share our work on the tumor stroma, metabolism and aging. #cancer www.salk.edu/events/scien...
Abstract Book - Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Click here for abstract book
www.salk.edu
July 27, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Reposted by Cosimo Commisso
A promising advance for pancreatic cancer published Cancer Cell: Blocking macropinocytosis reduces fibrosis around pancreatic tumors, improving immune cell access & boosting response to chemo & immunotherapy in mice. sbpdiscovery.org/press/reshap... @cosimocommisso.bsky.social @yijuan.bsky.social
July 26, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Reposted by Cosimo Commisso
To distract from your own stress responses (!!!), check out this awesome new study from the Commisso lab linking metabolic stress to regulation of the pancreatic tumor microenvironment! ✨
July 24, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Excited to share work published in @cp-cancercell.bsky.social by @yijuan.bsky.social showing that macropinocytosis inhibition drives myCAF-to-iCAF conversion, enhancing therapeutic responses in pancreatic cancer. Thank you to our collaborators that contributed! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Macropinocytosis maintains CAF subtype identity under metabolic stress in pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tumors are glutamine deficient, and both tumor cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) rely on this ami…
www.sciencedirect.com
July 24, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Cosimo Commisso
Super excited to share new review on metabolic stress and adaptations in pancreatic cancer to these stresses from @cssheehan.bsky.social
jci.org/articles/vie... 1/6
JCI - What’s on the menu?: metabolic constraints in the pancreatic tumor microenvironment
jci.org
July 19, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Cosimo Commisso
Super excited to share our newest piece out today @natrevcancer.nature.com linking age-induced metabolic reprogramming to cancer development. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cancer progression through the lens of age-induced metabolic reprogramming - Nature Reviews Cancer
In this Perspective, Lazure and Gomes argue that metabolic changes that occur as a result of ageing may shape tumour initiation and progression and the development of metastatic disease.
www.nature.com
July 11, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by Cosimo Commisso
"There's a large literature which shows that the rate of return to public R&D is outsized. It's enormous. Some estimates suggest as much as 50% rate of return to public R&D investments. And really, that was what made America great."
Fascinating piece from Paul Krugman with Jonathan Gruber with a powerful argument for public funding of science.

paulkrugman.substack.com/p/health-car...

1/n
Health Care: Jonathan Gruber
A key founding father of Obamacare on what comes next
paulkrugman.substack.com
July 7, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Cosimo Commisso
Ted Koppel interviews my Hopkins colleague Prof. Liz Jaffee, world expert in pancreatic cancer, about the devastating cuts and slow roll out of cancer research funding by the NIH.

See this CBS Sunday morning show video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLwc...
Saving money vs. saving lives
YouTube video by CBS Sunday Morning
www.youtube.com
June 29, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Cosimo Commisso
My message to Trump’s NIH Director? No one in America wants us to do LESS cancer research.

No one is asking Trump to make it harder to cure Alzheimer's disease.

Yet Trump is cutting all of this NOW and demanding an $18 BILLION cut to NIH next year. Not on my watch.
June 10, 2025 at 6:53 PM
🚨 New paper out! PSGL-1 is a 🔥 immune checkpoint in pancreatic cancer. Knocking it out=more CD8+ T cells, less tumor, better PD-1 response. 🧬Major props to @jlhope.bsky.social (Drexel) & Linda Bradley (SBP) for leading this awesome collab! #PDAC #Immunotherapy #Tcells www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Disabling PSGL-1 abrogates immune suppression and resistance to PD-1 blockade in pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal cancer for which there is a critical need to identify novel therapeutic targets. Herein we define PSGL-1 as a checkpoint inhibitor using a syngeneic...
www.biorxiv.org
May 28, 2025 at 12:07 AM