Nadia Roan, PhD

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Nadia Roan, PhD

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Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institutes
Professor, School of Medicine
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Biography

Dr. Roan has had a long-standing interest in understanding the effect of host factors on microbial pathogens of the genital mucosa. Her research as a graduate student led to new insights into the nature of the mucosal immune response directed against the most common sexually transmitted bacterium C. trachomatis. She created and characterized C. trachomatis-specific TCR transgenic and retrogenic mice, and used these mice as tools to understand the inflammatory response to C. trachomatis within the upper female reproductive tract (FRT). During her postdoctoral years, Dr. Roan continued her studies on sexually transmitted microbes, but transitioned to studying HIV-1, a viral pathogen with a devastating effect on global health. She focused on understanding the effect of semen components on HIV-1 infection. She identified and characterized amyloid fibrils made up of peptides derived from the major components of the semen coagulum. These amyloids markedly enhance HIV infection, in part by promoting the attachment of HIV-1 to their cellular targets.

Dr. Roan’s current research interest focuses on two major areas. First, she is investigating the mechanisms by which semen components such as coagulum-derived amyloids promote HIV transmission, and the effects of these components on the effectiveness of currently available anti-HIV microbicides. This understanding will help the development of a new class of “combination microbicides” that contain components targeting both HIV-1 and naturally-occurring factors that promote HIV-1 infectivity. In parallel, a high-throughput screen is currently being conducted to identify compounds that inhibit the activity of viral-enhancing factors in semen. Dr. Roan’s second line of research is to understand the physiological functions of semen amyloids and their effects on cells present in the genital mucosa. This understanding will reveal insights into the roles of these semen factors in reproduction, which can lead to novel ways to enhance fertility or to the development of a new class of contraceptives.

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  1. Gramatica A, Schwarzer R, Brantley W, Varco-Merth B, Sperber HS, Hull PA, Montano M, Migueles SA, Rosenthal D, Hogan LE, Johnson JR, Packard TA, Grimmett ZW, Herzig E, Besnard E, Nekorchuk M, Hsiao F, Deeks SG, Snape M, Kiernan B, Roan NR, Lifson JD, Estes JD, Picker LJ, Verdin E, Krogan NJ, Henrich TJ, Connors M, Ott M, Pillai SK, Okoye AA, Greene WC. Evaluating a New Class of AKT/mTOR Activators for HIV Latency Reversing Activity Ex Vivo and In Vivo. J Virol. 2021 Feb 03.
  2. McGinnis CS, Siegel DA, Xie G, Hartoularos G, Stone M, Ye CJ, Gartner ZJ, Roan NR, Lee SA. No detectable alloreactive transcriptional responses under standard sample preparation conditions during donor-multiplexed single-cell RNA sequencing of peripheral blood mononuclear cells. BMC Biol. 2021 01 20; 19(1):10.
  3. Yukl SA, Khan S, Chen TH, Trapecar M, Wu F, Xie G, Telwatte S, Fulop D, Pico AR, Laird GM, Ritter KD, Jones NG, Lu CM, Siliciano RF, Roan NR, Milush JM, Somsouk M, Deeks SG, Hunt PW, Sanjabi S. Shared Mechanisms Govern HIV Transcriptional Suppression in Circulating CD103+ and Gut CD4+ T Cells. J Virol. 2020 12 22; 95(2).
  4. Falcinelli SD, Shook-Sa BE, Dewey MG, Sridhar S, Read J, Kirchherr J, James KS, Allard B, Ghofrani S, Stuelke E, Baker C, Roan NR, Eron JJ, Kuruc JD, Ramirez C, Gay C, Mollan KR, Margolis DM, Adimora AA, Archin NM. Impact of Biological Sex on Immune Activation and Frequency of the Latent HIV Reservoir During Suppressive Antiretroviral Therapy. J Infect Dis. 2020 11 09; 222(11):1843-1852.
  5. Warren JA, Zhou S, Xu Y, Moeser MJ, MacMillan DR, Council O, Kirchherr J, Sung JM, Roan NR, Adimora AA, Joseph S, Kuruc JD, Gay CL, Margolis DM, Archin N, Brumme ZL, Swanstrom R, Goonetilleke N. The HIV-1 latent reservoir is largely sensitive to circulating T cells. Elife. 2020 10 06; 9.
  6. Seidman D, Cavrois M, Hilton JF, Roan NR, Averbach S, Takeda M, Chang E, Raman N, Greenblatt R, Shacklett BL, Smith-McCune K. Reproductive tract immune cells from pregnant women or those using depot medroxyprogesterone acetate show no excess susceptibility to HIV-1: Results of an ex vivo fusion assay. Contraception. 2021 01; 103(1):44-47.
  7. Neidleman J, Luo X, Frouard J, Xie G, Hsiao F, Ma T, Morcilla V, Lee A, Telwatte S, Thomas R, Tamaki W, Wheeler B, Hoh R, Somsouk M, Vohra P, Milush J, James KS, Archin NM, Hunt PW, Deeks SG, Yukl SA, Palmer S, Greene WC, Roan NR. Phenotypic analysis of the unstimulated in vivo HIV CD4 T cell reservoir. Elife. 2020 09 29; 9.
  8. Xu SCS, LoRicco JG, Bishop AC, James NA, Huynh WH, McCallum SA, Roan NR, Makhatadze GI. Sequence-independent recognition of the amyloid structural motif by GFP protein family. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 09 08; 117(36):22122-22127.
  9. Neidleman J, Luo X, Frouard J, Xie G, Gill G, Stein ES, McGregor M, Ma T, George AF, Kosters A, Greene WC, Vasquez J, Ghosn E, Lee S, Roan NR. SARS-CoV-2-Specific T Cells Exhibit Phenotypic Features of Helper Function, Lack of Terminal Differentiation, and High Proliferation Potential. Cell Rep Med. 2020 Sep 22; 1(6):100081.
  10. Colomb F, Giron LB, Kuri-Cervantes L, Adeniji OS, Ma T, Dweep H, Battivelli E, Verdin E, Palmer CS, Tateno H, Kossenkov AV, Roan NR, Betts MR, Abdel-Mohsen M. Sialyl-LewisX Glycoantigen Is Enriched on Cells with Persistent HIV Transcription during Therapy. Cell Rep. 2020 08 04; 32(5):107991.
  11. Marques de Menezes EG, Jang K, George AF, Nyegaard M, Neidleman J, Inglis HC, Danesh A, Deng X, Afshari A, Kim YH, Billaud JN, Marson K, Pilcher CD, Pillai SK, Norris PJ, Roan NR. Seminal Plasma-Derived Extracellular-Vesicle Fractions from HIV-Infected Men Exhibit Unique MicroRNA Signatures and Induce a Proinflammatory Response in Cells Isolated from the Female Reproductive Tract. J Virol. 2020 07 30; 94(16).
  12. Thomas A, Hammarlund E, Gao L, Holman S, Michel KG, Glesby M, Villacres MC, Golub ET, Roan NR, French AL, Augenbraun MH, Slifka MK. Loss of Preexisting Immunological Memory Among Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Women Despite Immune Reconstitution With Antiretroviral Therapy. J Infect Dis. 2020 06 29; 222(2):243-251.
  13. Ma T, Luo X, George AF, Mukherjee G, Sen N, Spitzer TL, Giudice LC, Greene WC, Roan NR. HIV efficiently infects T cells from the endometrium and remodels them to promote systemic viral spread. Elife. 2020 05 26; 9.
  14. Hsiao F, Frouard J, Gramatica A, Xie G, Telwatte S, Lee GQ, Roychoudhury P, Schwarzer R, Luo X, Yukl SA, Lee S, Hoh R, Deeks SG, Jones RB, Cavrois M, Greene WC, Roan NR. Tissue memory CD4+ T cells expressing IL-7 receptor-alpha (CD127) preferentially support latent HIV-1 infection. PLoS Pathog. 2020 04; 16(4):e1008450.
  15. George AF, Jang KS, Nyegaard M, Neidleman J, Spitzer TL, Xie G, Chen JC, Herzig E, Laustsen A, Marques de Menezes EG, Houshdaran S, Pilcher CD, Norris PJ, Jakobsen MR, Greene WC, Giudice LC, Roan NR. Seminal plasma promotes decidualization of endometrial stromal fibroblasts in vitro from women with and without inflammatory disorders in a manner dependent on interleukin-11 signaling. Hum Reprod. 2020 03 27; 35(3):617-640.
  16. James KS, Trumble I, Clohosey ML, Moeser M, Roan NR, Adimora AA, Joseph SB, Archin NM, Hudgens M, Soriano-Sarabia N. Measuring the contribution of γδ T cells to the persistent HIV reservoir. AIDS. 2020 03 01; 34(3):363-371.
  17. Cavrois M, Hilton JF, Roan NR, Takeda M, Seidman D, Averbach S, Chang E, Raman N, Greenblatt R, Shacklett BL, Smith-McCune K. Effects of the levonorgestrel-containing intrauterine device, copper intrauterine device, and levonorgestrel-containing oral contraceptive on susceptibility of immune cells from cervix, endometrium and blood to HIV-1 fusion measured ex vivo. PLoS One. 2019; 14(8):e0221181.
  18. Thomas Alexander Packard, Eytan Herzig, Xiaoyu Luo, Johanne H Egedal, Zachary W Grimmett, Kim J Hasenkrug, Nadia Roan, Warner C Greene. HIV-induced production of CCL2 may promote rapid seeding of the latent HIV reservoir. The Journal of Immunology. 2019 May 1; 202(1_Supplement):197.2-197.2.
  19. Joanna A Warren, Shuntai Zhou, Yinyan Xu, Matthew Moeser, Jenn Kirchherr, Julia Sung, Nadia Roan, Adaora Adimora, JoAnn Kuruc, Cindy Gay, David Margolis, Nancie Archin, Ronald Swanstrom, Nilu Goonetilleke. Quantifying Virus Escape from T Cells in the Latent HIV Reservoir. The Journal of Immunology. 2019 May 1; 202(1_Supplement):197.14-197.14.
  20. Skinner WM, Mannowetz N, Lishko PV, Roan NR. Single-cell Motility Analysis of Tethered Human Spermatozoa. Bio Protoc. 2019 Mar 05; 9(5).
  21. Li Z, Wu J, Chavez L, Hoh R, Deeks SG, Pillai SK, Zhou Q. Reiterative Enrichment and Authentication of CRISPRi Targets (REACT) identifies the proteasome as a key contributor to HIV-1 latency. PLoS Pathog. 2019 01; 15(1):e1007498.
  22. Martin JW, Chen JC, Neidleman J, Tatsumi K, Hu J, Giudice LC, Greene WC, Roan NR. Potent and rapid activation of tropomyosin-receptor kinase A in endometrial stromal fibroblasts by seminal plasma. Biol Reprod. 2018 08 01; 99(2):336-348.
  23. Röcker A, Roan NR, Yadav JK, Fändrich M, Münch J. Structure, function and antagonism of semen amyloids. Chem Commun (Camb). 2018 Jul 05; 54(55):7557-7569.
  24. Müller JA, Harms M, Krüger F, Groß R, Joas S, Hayn M, Dietz AN, Lippold S, von Einem J, Schubert A, Michel M, Mayer B, Cortese M, Jang KS, Sandi-Monroy N, Deniz M, Ebner F, Vapalahti O, Otto M, Bartenschlager R, Herbeuval JP, Schmidt-Chanasit J, Roan NR, Münch J. Semen inhibits Zika virus infection of cells and tissues from the anogenital region. Nat Commun. 2018 06 07; 9(1):2207.
  25. Roan NR. Resident T cells stand up to HIV. Sci Immunol. 2018 06 01; 3(24).