Dmitriy Zamarin, MD, PhD

2026 Collaborative Research Development Grant

Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Project Summary
Ovarian cancers are highly heterogeneous, which means that within the same patient different tumors may exhibit different sensitivity to recognition and killing by the immune cells. We hypothesize that this heterogeneity is driven by production by cancer cells of specific secreted proteins that stimulate or inhibit recruitment of immune cells to the tumor. We developed a first-of-its-kind spatial functional genomics reporter platform that enables us to track the production of such proteins, to measure their association with surrounding immune cells and other cells, and to test how they impact immune recognition, tumor growth, and response to immunotherapies.

Bio
Dmitriy Zamarin MD PhD is Professor of Oncology, Section Head of Gynecologic Medical Oncology, and co-director of Center of Excellence for Gynecologic Cancers at the Tisch Cancer Institute at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Zamarin obtained his MD and PhD degrees from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He completed residency in Internal Medicine at the Mount Sinai Hospital and fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He spent a decade as a faculty and Translational Research Director in Gynecologic Medical Oncology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center before transitioning to his current role in September of 2023.

Dr. Zamarin has served as a principal investigator and a translational chair on multiple institutional and cooperative group clinical trials exploring novel immunotherapy combinations in gynecologic cancers and other solid tumors and serves as the translational research co-chair on the NRG Oncology Cervical Cancer Committee. His clinical and laboratory research are focused on understanding of the mechanisms of immune recognition and resistance in gynecologic cancers and on development of novel immunotherapeutic strategies, including vaccines, immunomodulatory antibodies and genetically engineered oncolytic viruses. Dr. Zamarin has been elected as a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and has received awards and funding from multiple organizations including Damon Runyon Foundation, Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, Department of Defense, and National Cancer Institute.