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Laura M. Calvi, M.D.

Contact Information

Phone Numbers

Office: (585) 275-2901

Fax: (585) 273-1288

URMFGA member of the University of Rochester Medical Faculty Group

groupAn Accountable Health Partner

assignmentNot Accepting New Patients

Research Labs

Faculty Appointments

Patient Care Settings

Endocrinology, Hospital Medicine

Biography

Dr. Calvi is the Leader of the Cancer Microenvironment Research Program at Wilmot Cancer Center. Dr. Calvi graduated from Union College, obtained her medical degree from Harvard Medical School, and then completed her residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Calvi then pursued fellowship training in endocrinology at MGH, where she trained in neuroendocrinology at the MGH Neuroendocrine Clinical Center and Pituitary Tumor Center. She then moved to Rochester to assume the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, University of Rochester Medical Center. Together with Dr. Vates, Dr. Calvi has developed the University of Rochester Multidisciplinary Neuroendocrinology Clinic as a center of excellence for management of patients with pituitary tumors. Dr. Calvi currently leads her research program on the bone marrow microenvironment and holds several administrative and educational responsibilities within the University of Rochester.

Research

RESEARCH
Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Microenvironmental Regulation of Hematopoietic Stem Cells in the Bone Marrow

To survive throughout the life of an individual, hematopoietic stem cells (or HSC), which continuously give rise to all cellular blood components, must strictly regulate their behavioral choices. These choices include self-renewal, differentiation, quiescence or death. This essential regulation of stem cells is thought to be determined at least in part by the environment, or niche, in which these cells reside. The bone forming cells, osteoblasts, have been known to support and expand HSC in vitro and co-transplantation of osteoblasts with HSC can increase engraftment rate. Work in our laboratory and others first identified osteoblastic cells as a regulatory component in the HSC niche through genetic means. A number of molecules have since been implicated in HSC-osteoblastic interaction. In fact, it has recently become evident that osteoblasts can both stimulate and limit HSC expansion, promote quiescence, coordinate HSC mobilization and, when destroyed or mutated, initiate hematopoietic dysfunction. Therefore, increasing evidence points to osteoblasts as key regulators of HSC behavior. While the HSC niche is still poorly understood, we and others have begun to demonstrate the therapeutic potential of its manipulation in animal models. Our laboratory has demonstrated that osteoblastic activation by Parathyroid Hormone (PTH) expands HSC, and improves recovery from myeloablation. Thus, the central hypothesis pursued by my laboratory is that osteoblastic cells play a central role in orchestrating microenvironmental control of the behavior of both benign and malignant HSC, and that they can be targeted for therapeutic benefit. My laboratory therefore uniquely uses techniques that bridge bone and stem cell biology to discover the regulatory components of the bone marrow microenvironment, with the long term goal of identifying targets for therapeutic manipulation.

Current areas of research include:
1) Molecular mechanisms of osteoblastic regulation of hematopoietic stem cells,

2) Role of osteoblasts in coordinating the actions of other bone marrow cellular components (osteoclasts, endothelial cells and adipocytes) for HSC regulation,

3) Regulation of malignant stem cells by bone microenvironmental factors,

4) Role of HSC niche components in response to toxic or irradiation injury,

5) Therapeutic targeting of the HSC niche to improve HSC expansion (in vivo and in vitro), response to toxic injury and malignant stem cell eradication.

Individuals working in the laboratory can expect to learn flow cytometric analysis, pharmacologic and immunohistochemical methods for studying microenvironmental interactions in several animal and in vitro models, and the necessary computational techniques for analyzing these data.

CAREERS
We are currently accepting applications for graduate students and post-doctoral fellow positions in Calvi Lab at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Individuals interested in conducting research on the physiology and stem cell biology within the bone marrow microenvironment are encouraged to apply. Interested candidates, please e-mail your CV and a cover letter detailing your scientific background and skills to Dr. Calvi (laura_calvi@urmc.rochester.edu )

Credentials

Education

1995
MD | Children's Hospital Harvard Medical (USA)

Post-doctoral Training & Residency

07/01/1998 - 06/30/2000
Fellowship in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Massachusetts General Hospital

06/01/1996 - 06/30/1998
Residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital

06/24/1995 - 05/31/1996
Internship in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital

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Patents

Patent Title: Expansion of Hematopoietic Stem Cells
Patent #: 2094839
Issue Date: Feb 05, 2020
Country: Europe
Invented By: Laura M Calvi, Regis O'Keefe

Patent Title: Expansion of Hematopoietic Stem Cells
Patent #: FR2094839
Issue Date: Feb 05, 2020
Country: France
Invented By: Laura M Calvi, Regis O'Keefe

Patent Title: Expansion of Hematopoietic Stem Cells
Patent #: DE2094839
Issue Date: Feb 05, 2020
Country: Germany
Invented By: Laura M Calvi, Regis O'Keefe

Patent Title: Expansion of Hematopoietic Stem Cells
Patent #: GB2094839
Issue Date: Feb 05, 2020
Country: United Kingdom
Invented By: Laura M Calvi, Regis O'Keefe

Patent Title: Expansion of Hematopoietic Stem Cells
Patent #: 9,394,520
Issue Date: Jul 19, 2016
Country: United States
Invented By: Laura M Calvi, Regis O'Keefe

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Publications

Journal Articles

7/14/2023
Kfoury YS, Ji F, Jain E, Mazzola MC, Schiroli G, Papazian A, Mercier FE, Sykes DB, Kiem A, Randolph MA, Abdel-Wahab OI, Calvi LM, Sadreyev R, Scadden DT. "The bone marrow stroma in human myelodysplastic syndrome reveals alterations that regulate disease progression." Blood advances.. 2023 Jul 14; Epub 2023 Jul 14.

7/14/2023
Quarato ER, Salama NA, Li AJ, Smith CO, Zhang J, Kawano Y, McArthur M, Liesveld JL, Becker MW, Elliott MR, Eliseev RA, Calvi LM. "Efferocytosis by bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells disrupts osteoblastic differentiation via mitochondrial remodeling." Cell death & disease.. 2023 Jul 14; 14(7):428. Epub 2023 Jul 14.

6/30/2023
Khazan N, Quarato ER, Singh NA, Snyder CWA, Moore T, Miller JP, Yasui M, Teramoto Y, Goto T, Reshi S, Hong J, Zhang N, Pandey D, Srivastava P, Morell A, Kawano H, Kawano Y, Conley T, Sahasrabudhe DM, Yano N, Miyamoto H, Aljitawi O, Liesveld J, Becker MW, Calvi LM, Zhovmer AS, Tabdanov ED, Dokholyan NV, Linehan DC, Hansen JN, Gerber SA, Sharon A, Khera MK, Jurutka PW, Rochel N, Kim KK, Rowswell-Turner RB, Singh RK, Moore RG. "Vitamin D Receptor Antagonist MeTC7 Inhibits PD-L1." Cancers.. 2023 Jun 30; 15(13)Epub 2023 Jun 30.

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