Please join us in congratulating Dayana Rivadeneira, PhD, in her new role as Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, effective September 1, 2025.
She will develop an independently funded and nationally recognized research program in cancer immunology and immunotherapy that will include collaborative efforts with basic research and clinical faculty across UPMC Hillman.
Dr. Rivadeneira has been involved in Cancer Biology and Therapeutics research since she was an undergraduate student at Florida Atlantic University. She joined Pitt in 2016 as a postdoctoral fellow under the mentorship of Drs. Greg Delgoffe and Robert Ferris to focus her research career on cancer immunology after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Wistar Institute shedding new light on potential metabolic strategies for inhibiting metastasis and tumor progression. She earned her PhD in genetics from Thomas Jefferson University, where she also completed a Graduate Certificate in Clinical Research/Trials. Her work at Pitt involved expanding our understanding of the metabolic barriers immune cells experience in the tumor microenvironment and how therapeutic strategies may be undertaken to circumvent these barriers.
Dr. Rivadeneira has over 20 publications; has presented her work in posters, presentations, and as an invited speaker at numerous conferences across the U.S.; and has been recognized for her research by SITC, AAI, AACR, Pitt and UPMC Hillman. She holds a patent for expression of metabolic modulators utilizing oncolytic Vaccinia virus to improve tumor therapy. This patent was licensed to develop a leptin-armed oncolytic virus which is currently in clinical development. She is the recipient of a R21 grant from the NIH for her work to neutralize oxidative damage at telomeres to prevent T cell dysfunction and improve adoptive cell therapies against cancer. Her independent research will focus on how immune cells respond to DNA damage and how this influences cell fate anti-tumor tumor immune response with potential to uncover novel targets to improve T cell anti-tumor responses.
