University at Buffalo (UB)
Nataliya Buxbaum MD
Nataliya Buxbaum
MD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Specialty/Research Focus
Cell Metabolism; Imaging In Vivo; Immunology; MRI - preclinical; Oncology; Pediatric Hematology-Oncology; Pediatrics; Technology; Translational imaging; Translational Research; Transplantation
Professional Summary:
I am a physician-scientist in the field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) and cellular therapy. The primary goal of my translational research program is to elucidate mechanisms underlying immune barriers to successful HCT. GvHD is a prevalent and morbid complication of HCT that can affect multiple organs. By uncovering cellular metabolism switches within immune cells that are mediating GvHD, we are developing new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities for this condition. Currently, clinical diagnosis of GvHD is challenging and is based on either subjective clinical findings and/or biopsies of the affected organs. To address this important clinical need, my group has developed a non-invasive and non-radioactive metabolic imaging method for GvHD. Clinical testing of this approach is planned. Metabolic imaging may allow objective and safe diagnosis of GvHD and visualization of therapeutic responses in vivo. Furthermore, pre-clinical testing of metabolic inhibitors to reprogram alloreactive immune cells in pre-clinical models has shown promising results and we are planning clinical trials to test these therapies in patients undergoing HCT.
Additionally, we are developing a non-radioactive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approach for cancer and cellular immunotherapy. By using deuterated isotopes, heavy water and heavy glucose, and deuterium MRI detection we have been able to visualize tumors and immune cells without the use of radioactivity. Pilot clinical testing of this approach in patients with malignancies is now planned. Furthermore, dMRI may have applicability in imaging cellular immunotherapy products after they are infused and may allow visualization of their activation within the tumor microenvironment (TME). This may not only serve as a useful pre-clinical tool for developing the next generation of cellular therapies, but may also be deployed for clinical prediction of early therapeutic responses to immunotherapy.
Education and Training:
- Fellowship, Post-doctoral fellow, National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH) (2015)
- Fellowship, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Johns Hopkins - National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (2012)
- Residency, Pediatrics, Columbia Presbyterian Children's Hospital of New York (2008)
- MD, Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School - Rutgers University (2005)
- Other, Research Scholar, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) - NIH Research Scholars Program (2003)
- BS, Biochemistry, Rider University, Summa Cum Laude (2000)
Employment:
- Assistant Professor of Oncology, Pediatrics, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (2021-present)
- Physician-Scientist Early Investigator, Experimental Transplantation and Immunotherapy Branch, National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH) (2015–2020)
Awards and Honors:
- Cancer Imaging Highlight, 2020 (2020)
- Magnetic Moments Winner (2019)
- NIH CCR Federal Technology Transfer Award (2018)
- NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE) (2014)
Research Expertise:
- allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, bone marrow transplantation
- clinical trials, design and conduct
- magnetic resonance imaging, technology development
- pediatric hematology-oncology
- pre-clinical models of immunity
- translational research, bench-to-bedside
- transplant immunology
Grants and Sponsored Research:
- April 2023–March 2024
Deuterium Magnetic Resonance Imaging of graft-versus-host disease
Clinical Research Investigator-Initiated Studies Program (CRI-ISP) Award
Role: Principal Investigator
$75,000 - January 2023–December 2023
Hyundai Hope on Wheels Impact Award
Hyundai
Role: Principal Investigator
$100,000
Patents:
- Stable water isotope labeling and magnetic resonance imaging (swiMRI) for visualization of rapidly dividing cells
Journal Articles:
- Nanjireddy, P.M., Olejniczak, S.H., Buxbaum, N.P. (2023) Targeting of chimeric antigen receptor T cell metabolism to improve therapeutic outcomes. Frontiers in Immunology (Mar), 14 doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1121565
- Buxbaum NP, Socié G, Hill GR, MacDonald KP, Tkachev V, Teshima T, Lee SJ, Ritz J, Sarantopoulos S, Luznik L, Zeng D, Paczesny S, Martin PJ, Pavletic SZ, Schultz KR, Blazar BR. (2022) Chronic GvHD NIH Consensus Project Biology Task Force: Evolving path to personalized treatment of chronic GvHD. Blood advances (Nov).
- Cuvelier GDE, Schoettler M, Buxbaum NP, Pinal-Fernandez I, Schmalzing M, Distler JHW, Penack O, Santomasso BD, Zeiser R, Angstwurm K, MacDonald KPA, Kimberly WT, Taylor N, Bilic E, Banas B, Buettner-Herold M, Sinha N, Greinix HT, Pidala J, Schultz KR, Williams KM, Inamoto Y, Cutler C, Griffith LM, Lee SJ, Sarantopoulos S, Pavletic SZ, Wolff D. (2022) Toward a Better Understanding of the Atypical Features of Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease: A Report from the 2020 National Institutes of Health Consensus Project Task Force. Transplantation and cellular therapy (Aug), 28(8): 426-445. doi:10.1016/j.jtct.2022.05.038
- Rozmus J, Bhatt ST, Buxbaum NP, Cuvelier GDE, Li AM, Kitko CL, Schultz KR. (2022) Is It Possible to Separate the Graft-Versus-Leukemia (GVL) Effect Against B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia From Graft-Versus-Host Disease (GVHD) After Hematopoietic Cell Transplant?. Frontiers in pediatrics (Jan), 10: 796994. doi:10.3389/fped.2022.796994
- Mhandire K, Saggu K, Buxbaum NP. (2021) Immunometabolic Therapeutic Targets of Graft-versus-Host Disease (GvHD). Metabolites (Oct), 11(11). doi:10.3390/metabo11110736
- DeFilipp Z, Couriel DR, Lazaryan A, Bhatt VR, Buxbaum NP, Alousi AM, Olivieri A, Pulanic D, Halter JP, Henderson LA, Zeiser R, Gooley TA, MacDonald KPA, Wolff D, Schultz KR, Paczesny S, Inamoto Y, Cutler CS, Kitko CL, Pidala JA, Lee SJ, Socie G, Sarantopoulos S, Pavletic SZ, Martin PJ, Blazar BR, Greinix HT. (2021) National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Project on Criteria for Clinical Trials in Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease: III. The 2020 Treatment of Chronic GVHD Report. Transplantation and cellular therapy (Sep), 27(9): 729-737. doi:10.1016/j.jtct.2021.05.004
- Assmann JC, Farthing DE, Saito K, Maglakelidze N, Oliver B, Warrick KA, Sourbier C, Ricketts CJ, Meyer TJ, Pavletic SZ, Linehan WM, Krishna MC, Gress RE, Buxbaum NP. (2021) Glycolytic metabolism of pathogenic T cells enables early detection of GVHD by 13C-MRI. Blood (Jan), 137(1): 126-137. doi:10.1182/blood.2020005770
- Buxbaum NP, Pavletic SZ. (2020) Autoimmunity Following Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation. Frontiers in immunology (Jan), 11: 2017. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2020.02017
- Buxbaum NP. (2019) We didn't start the fire, MDSC inflammasome signaling in GVHD. Blood (Nov), 134(19): 1570-1572. doi:10.1182/blood.2019003247
- Buxbaum NP, Robinson C, Sinaii N, Ling A, Curtis LM, Pavletic SZ, Baird K, Lodish MB. (2018) Impaired Bone Mineral Density in Pediatric Patients with Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease. Biology of blood and marrow transplantation : journal of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (Jul), 24(7): 1415-1423. doi:10.1016/j.bbmt.2018.02.019
- Curtis LM, Pirsl F, Steinberg SM, Mitchell SA, Baird K, Cowen EW, Mays J, Buxbaum NP, Pichard DC, Im A, Avila D, Taylor T, Fowler DH, Gress RE, Pavletic SZ. (2017) Predictors for Permanent Discontinuation of Systemic Immunosuppression in Severely Affected Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease Patients. Biology of blood and marrow transplantation : journal of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (Nov), 23(11): 1980-1988. doi:10.1016/j.bbmt.2017.08.005
- Farthing DE, Buxbaum NP, Lucas PJ, Maglakelidze N, Oliver B, Wang J, Hu K, Castro E, Bare CV, Gress RE. (2017) Comparing DNA enrichment of proliferating cells following administration of different stable isotopes of heavy water. Scientific reports (Jun), 7(1): 4043. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-04404-2
- Buxbaum NP, Farthing DE, Maglakelidze N, Lizak M, Merkle H, Carpenter AC, Oliver BU, Kapoor V, Castro E, Swan GA, Dos Santos LM, Bouladoux NJ, Bare CV, Flomerfelt FA, Eckhaus MA, Telford WG, Belkaid Y, Bosselut RJ, Gress RE. (2017) In vivo kinetics and nonradioactive imaging of rapidly proliferating cells in graft-versus-host disease. JCI insight (Jun), 2(12). doi:10.1172/jci.insight.92851
- Farthing DE, Buxbaum NP, Bare CV, Treadwell SM, Kapoor V, Williams KM, Gress RE. (2013) Sensitive GC-MS/MS method to measure deuterium labeled deoxyadenosine in DNA from limited mouse cell populations. Analytical chemistry (May), 85(9): 4613-20. doi:10.1021/ac400309d
- Jegalian AG, Buxbaum NP, Facchetti F, Raffeld M, Pittaluga S, Wayne AS, Jaffe ES. (2010) Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm in children: diagnostic features and clinical implications. Haematologica (Nov), 95(11): 1873-9. doi:10.3324/haematol.2010.026179
- Buxbaum NP, Ponce M, Saidi P, Michaels LA. (2010) Psychosocial correlates of physical activity in adolescents with haemophilia. Haemophilia : the official journal of the World Federation of Hemophilia (Jul), 16(4): 656-61.
Professional Memberships:
- Pediatric Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Consortium (PTCTC) (2022–present)
- NIH Consensus Development Project on Criteria for Clinical Trials in Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease (2019–present)
- Fellow, American Board of Pediatrics, Hematology-Oncology Sub-board (2013–present)
- Fellow, American Academy of Pediatrics (F.A.A.P) (2009–present)
- Investigator, Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP)
- Member, Children’s Oncology Group (COG)
- American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT)
- American Society of Hematology (ASH)
Presentations:
- "“Treatment Refractory GvHD” Concurrent Scientific Session (Plenary)" 2023 Tandem - Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Meetings of ASCTC and CIBMTR (2023)
- "“Biology Of cGvHD: On The Road To Personalized Therapy.”" Meredith A. Cowden Foundation - GvHD National Symposium (2022)
- "“Novel non-radioactive imaging approaches for cancer and immunity”" Annual Marie Sklodowska-Curie Symposium on Cancer Research and Care (2022)
- "“Symposium on Chronic GvHD: Biology of cGvHD.”" Cell Therapy Transplant Canada (CTTC) Annual Meeting (2022)
- "Spotlight session from Joint ASTCT-NIH-EBMT Education Committee on “Chronic GvHD – Beyond the 2020 Consensus Conference”" American Society for Transplantation and Cell Therapy (ASTCT) Annual Meeting (2022)
- "“Metabolic imaging and targeting of graft-versus-host disease.”" Cell Stress and Biophysical Therapies 2021 Research Retreat, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (2021)
Service Activities:
- fellow recruitment; faculty interviewer (2022)
- ; faculty search committee member (2022)
- discussion on careers in medicine and research for local high school girls, special session at the ISMRM annual meeting; speaker (2022)
- Video Journal of Hematological Oncology (recorded at the ASTCT annual meeting); interviewee (2022)
- The Nativity Miguel Middle School of Buffalo - special session for middle school students on careers in medicine and research; speaker (2022–2021)
- Bioanalytics, Metabolomics and Pharmacokinetics (BMPK) Shared Resource Advisory Committee, Roswell Park; committee member (2022)
- Quality Improvement Project with UBMD pediatric residents (MOC); faculty advisor (2022)
- Roswell Park; Faculty Development Committee (2022)
- Swiss National Science Foundation; reviewer (2022)
- Scientific Advisory Committee, Roswell Park Alliance Foundation; reviewer (2022)
- Graduate Women in Science Fellowship; reviewer (2022)
- Blood; reviewer (2022)
- Blood Advances; reviewer (2022)
- American Journal of Transplantation (AJT); reviewer (2022)
- Frontiers in Immunology; reviewer (2022)
- Journal of Transplantation and Cell Therapy; reviewer (2022)
- Science Advances; reviewer (2022)
- Transplantation; reviewer (2022)
- Scholarly Oversight Committee for Pediatric Heme-Onc Fellow; mentor (2022)
- Center for Scientific Review, NIH Transplantation, Tolerance, and Tumor Immunology (TTT) Study Section; early career reviewer (2022)
- Women's Physician-Scientist Panel; panelist (2022)
- pre-med shadowing at Oishei; mentor (2022)
- Mayor Summer Youth Program at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center; mentor (2022)
- summer research volunteer (high school student); mentor (2022)
- summer research student (rising medical student); mentor (2021)
- Frontiers in Oncology, special issue on Cellular Metabolism and Molecular Imaging in Cancer; guest editor (2020–2022)
- organizer and chair of public engagement sessions at the ISMRM - teaching scientists how to share their research with the lay audience; public engagement (2019–2022)