Hannah Dorando

Program: Molecular Genetics and Genomics

Current advisor: Jacqueline Elise Payton, MD, PhD

Undergraduate university: University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, 2016

Enrollment year: 2017

Research summary
Dysregulation of LAIR1&2 in Lymphoma Pathogenesis

I work in the lab of Dr. Jackie Payton, broadly studying gene regulation in lymphoma. The Payton lab previously identified genes upregulated in Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma (CTCL) patients that were resistant to histone deacetylase inhibitor therapy, including leukocyte autoimmune inhibitory receptor 2 (LAIR2). LAIR2 and its homolog, LAIR1, are specifically expressed in immune cells and their expression is elevated in autoimmune disease and infection. LAIR1 binds collagen and proteins with collagen-like domains and transmits inhibitory signals in immune cells. LAIR2 is a secreted protein that competes for the same substrates as LAIR1, thereby preventing inhibitory signaling in immune cells. The role of LAIR1&2 in aberrant immune cell trafficking in CTCL is unknown, and while infection and other inflammatory stimuli increase the expression of LAIR1&2, the transcriptional regulation of these genes is unknown. We aim to characterize a mechanism for dysregulation of the LAIR1&2 pathway in CTCL.

Graduate publications
Pei J, Beri NR, Zou AJ, Hubel P, Dorando HK, Bergant V, Andrews RD, Pan J, Andrews JM, Sheehan KCF, Pichlmair A, Amarasinghe GK, Brody SL, Payton JE, Leung DW. 2021 Nuclear-localized human respiratory syncytial virus NS1 protein modulates host gene transcription. Cell Rep, 37(2):109803. PMCID: PMC8609347

Pyfrom SC, Quinn CC, Dorando HK, Luo H, Payton JE. 2020 BCALM (AC099524.1) Is a Human B Lymphocyte-Specific Long Noncoding RNA That Modulates B Cell Receptor-Mediated Calcium Signaling. J Immunol, 205(3):595-607. PMCID: PMC7372127