Mechanisms of Oncogenesis Program Co-Leaders

Lizi Wu

Lizi Wu

Professor
Department: Molecular Genetics & Microbiology
Mailing Address:
CGRC Room 362
2033 Mowry Road
Gainesville FL 32610
Physical Address:
PO BOX 103610
Cancer & Genetics Research Complex
2033 MOWRY ROAD
GAINESVILLE FL 326110001
Publications:
Grants:
  • Apr 2023 ACTIVE
    Elucidating and targeting INSL4 signaling in lung cancer
    FL DEPT OF HLTH BANKHEAD-COLEY CANCER RE · Principal Investigator
  • Aug 2022 ACTIVE
    Embedded Printing of Human Respiratory Model with Air-Liquid Interface for COVID-19 Research
    NATL INST OF HLTH NHLBI · Co-Investigator
  • Apr 2021 ACTIVE
    Team-based Interdisciplinary Cancer Research Training Program
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Co-Investigator
  • Aug 2020 ACTIVE
    Signaling and Targeting of CRTC1-MAML2 Fusion Oncoprotein in Salivary Gland
    NATL INST OF HLTH NIDCR · Principal Investigator
  • Feb 2019 ACTIVE
    Aberrant CRTC activation as a unique vulnerability of lung cancer with LKB1 inactivation
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Principal Investigator
  • Sep 2018 – Aug 2021
    OR-DRPD-ROF2018: Identification of the first extracellular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-binding receptor in animal cells
    UF RESEARCH · Co-Investigator
  • Apr 2015 – Mar 2018
    A novel noncoding RNA and human lung cancers with inactivated LKB1 signaling
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Principal Investigator
  • Jan 2015 ACTIVE
    UF Health Cancer Center Bridge Seed Grant funded through the Florida Consortium of National Cancer Institute Centers Program
    UF HEALTH SHANDS HOSPITAL · Project Manager
  • Aug 2014 – May 2020
    Signaling and targeting of CRTC1-MAML2 fusion oncoprotein in salivary gland tumor
    NATL INST OF HLTH · Principal Investigator
  • Feb 2012 – Mar 2018
    Sponholtz Family Cancer Research Fund – #F14006
    UF FOUNDATION · Project Manager
  • Mar 2006 ACTIVE
    Davis Cancer Researach Equipment
    UF FOUNDATION · Project Manager
Patents:
  • Issued September 2019
    LncRNA Serves as a Biomarker and Therapeutic Target
    #10,415,095
Rolf Renne

Rolf Renne

Associate Director for Basic Science, Henry E. Innes Professor of Cancer Research
Department: Molecular Genetics & Microbiology
Mailing Address:
PO BOX 103610
GAINESVILLE FL 326110001
Physical Address:
1200 NEWELL DR RM R4 295
ACADEMIC RESEARCH BLDG
GAINESVILLE FL 32610

Rolf Renne, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, and has studiesd different aspects of Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) since 1995. His current focus is on epigenetic regulation of viral latency and the role of long and small non-coding RNAs in viral biology. His laboratory is using genomics, genetics, and ribonomics approaches to study how viral-encoded genes and microRNAs contribute to KSHV biology and tumorigenesis.

Dr. Renne received his Master’s (1989) and Ph.D. (1993) degrees from the Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany. He performed most of his Ph.D. thesis work at the University of California Davis with Dr. Paul Luciw in the field of Retrovirology. Next, he joined the laboratory of Dr. Don Ganem, UCSF, where he contributed to early work on establishing tissue culture models for KSHV. In 1999, he joined the faculty at Case Western Reserve University, where he focused on molecular aspects such as DNA binding and DNA replication of the KSHV latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) and the establishment of the only available KS xenograft model. In 2004, he moved to the University of Florida, where his laboratory was one of four to identify KSHV-encoded microRNAs. More recently, Dr. Renne has contributed to studies on HSV-1, EBV, HHV-6, MHV-68, and poxviruses. Dr. Renne has been continuously funded by multiple NCI grants since 2004, and in 2017, was awarded a multi-investigator NCI Program project together with Drs. Scott Tibbetts (UF), and Erik Flemington (Tulane University). This P01 Project was successfully renewed in 2022. Dr. Renne is on the editorial board of Journal of Virology, Virology, and serves on multiple NIH special emphasis panels. In 2009, he co-chaired the 11th International Workshop on KSHV and related agents and in 2015 the 40th International Herpesvirus Workshop. The unifying theme of his research projects is to deepen our understanding on how latent gamma-herpesvirus gene products including microRNAs and long noncoding RNAs contribute to viral tumorigenesis. While his focus is on Kaposi’s sarcoma, Primary effusion lymphomas, he also collaborates on EBV-associated cancer, and animal models such as MHV68 and various noninfectious cancers including breast cancer and melanoma. In 2017, he was appointed Associate Director for Basic Science at the UF Health Cancer Center, and in 2019 was named the Henry E. Innes Professor of Cancer Research. In 2021, he was appointed member of the NCI panel A for Cancer Center reviews.

Publications:
Grants:
  • Aug 2022 ACTIVE
    Investigating miR-9-5p and its targets as interventional and clinicopathologic predictors of laryngeal cancer racial disparate outcomes
    US ARMY MED RES ACQUISITION · Other
  • Jun 2022 ACTIVE
    Noncoding RNAs in gamma-Herpesvirus Biology and AIDS Malignancies
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Principal Investigator
  • Jan 2022 ACTIVE
    MicroRNA turnover induced by target RNAs in Colorectal Cancer
    AMER CANCER SOC · Co-Investigator
  • Jan 2019 – Oct 2020
    UFF F006200 Innes Professorship
    UF FOUNDATION · Principal Investigator
  • Sep 2018 ACTIVE
    The Role of H3.3 histone variant in the pathogenesis of oral Kaposi's Sarcoma
    NATL INST OF HLTH NIDCR · Principal Investigator
  • Feb 2017 – Jan 2022
    Noncoding RNAs in gamma-Herpesvirus Biology and AIDS Malignancies
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Principal Investigator
  • Jul 2015 ACTIVE
    Florida Academic Cancer Center Alliance Seed Grants
    UF HEALTH SHANDS HOSPITAL · Project Manager
  • Feb 2015 ACTIVE
    UF Health Cancer Center Pilot Project Grants funded through the Florida Consortium of National Cancer Institute Centers Program
    UF HEALTH SHANDS HOSPITAL · Project Manager
  • Jan 2015 – Dec 2020
    Role of MHV68 miRNAs in latency and pathogenesis
    NATL INST OF HLTH NIAID · Co-Investigator
  • Jan 2015 ACTIVE
    UF Health Cancer Center Bridge Seed Grant funded through the Florida Consortium of National Cancer Institute Centers Program
    UF HEALTH SHANDS HOSPITAL · Project Manager
  • Jul 2014 – Jun 2017
    Histone variant H3.3 and KSHV LANA in the pathogenesis of oral Kaposis sarcoma
    NATL INST OF HLTH NIDCR · Principal Investigator
  • Aug 2013 – Aug 2016
    Identification of KSHV miRNA targets in endothelial cells and characterization miRNA knockout viruses
    NATL INST OF HLTH · Principal Investigator
  • Dec 2012 – Jan 2019
    Studying the role of KSHV-encoded miRNAs
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Principal Investigator
  • Mar 2011 – Feb 2017
    LANA and Cellular Gene Expression
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Principal Investigator
  • Mar 2006 ACTIVE
    Davis Cancer Researach Equipment
    UF FOUNDATION · Project Manager
Education:
  • 1989-1993
    PhD, Retrovirology/Foamy Viruses
    Albert-Ludwigs University
  • 1984-1989
    MS, Biology
    Albert-Ludwigs University