Marco Ruella, MD

faculty photo
Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology-Oncology)
Department: Medicine

Contact information
South Tower 8-112
Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine
3400 Civic Center Blvd
Philadelphia, PA 191004
Office: 215-746-4880
Fax: 215-573-3638
Lab: 215-573-8538
Education:
MD (Medical Degree)
University of Torino, Italy , 2007.
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Description of Research Expertise

Dr. Ruella's laboratory focuses on the mechanisms of relapse after chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CART) immunotherapies with the goal of rationally design innovative combined immunotherapies for relapsing/refractory leukemia and lymphoma.

Dr. Marco Ruella obtained his medical degree with high honors and completed his specialization in clinical hematology at the University of Torino, Italy. He was attending physician at the Hematology and Cell Therapy Division of the Mauriziano Hospital and was an Instructor at the Biotechnology School at the University of Torino. From late 2012, he was a Post-doctoral Fellow, and then an Instructor at the University of Pennsylvania in the Center for Cellular immunotherapies (Drs. June and Gill). From 2017 to 2018 he served as Associate Director of Dr. June’s laboratory. In 2018, Dr. Ruella was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology and the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies and Scientific Director of the Lymphoma Program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Ruella was awarded many awards and honors, including the inaugural SITC EMD-Serono Cancer Immunotherapy Clinical Fellowship (2014), the AACR-BMS Oncology Fellowship in Clinical Cancer Research (2015), the ASH Scholar Award (2016), a NIH K99-R00 award (2017), the “Paola Campese” Award Leukemia Research (2017), the Cancer Support Community Award (2018), the 2018 ASH Joanne Levy, MD, Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement, the Gilead Sciences Research Scholar in Hematology/Oncology and the Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation Award (2020), and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Translational Research Program (2021). Dr. Ruella is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications on targeted immunotherapies for hematological cancers and is an inventor in several patents on CART therapy and the Scientific Founder of viTToria biotherapeutics.

Selected Publications

Vinnakota JM, Biavasco F, Schwabenland M, Chhatbar C, Adams RC, Erny D, Duquesne S, El Khawanky N, Schmidt D, Fetsch V, Zähringer A, Salié H, Athanassopoulos D, Braun LM, Javorniczky NR, Ho JNHG, Kierdorf K, Marks R, Wäsch R, Simonetta F, Andrieux G, Pfeifer D, Monaco G, Capitini C, Fry TJ, Blank T, Blazar BR, Wagner E, Theobald M, Sommer C, Stelljes M, Reicherts C, Jeibmann A, Schittenhelm J, Monoranu CM, Rosenwald A, Kortüm M, Rasche L, Einsele H, Meyer PT, Brumberg J, Völkl S, Mackensen A, Coras R, von Bergwelt-Baildon M, Albert NL, Bartos LM, Brendel M, Holzgreve A, Mack M, Boerries M, Mackall CL, Duyster J, Henneke P, Priller J, Köhler N, Strübing F, Bengsch B, Ruella M, Subklewe M, von Baumgarten L, Gill S, Prinz M, Zeiser R.: Targeting TGFβ-activated kinase-1 activation in microglia reduces CAR T immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome. Nature Cancer 5: 1227-1249, August 2024 Notes: doi: 10.1038/s43018-024-00764-7.

Restelli C, Ruella M, Paruzzo L, Tarella C, Pelicci PG, Colombo E.: Recent Advances in Immune-Based Therapies for Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Blood Cancer Discov. 5(4): 234-248, July 2024 Notes: doi: 10.1158/2643-3230.BCD-23-0202.

Chong EA, Chong ER, Therwhanger D, Nasta SD, Landsburg DJ, Barta SK, Svoboda J, Gerson JN, Ghilardi G, Paruzzo L, Fraietta JA, Weber E, Stefano N, Porter DL, Frey NV, Garfall AL, Ruella M, Schuster SJ.: Bendamustine as Lymphodepletion for Brexucabtagene Autoleucel Therapy of Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Transplant Cell Therapy 30(7): e1-726.e8, July 2024.

Ruella M, June CH. : CAR T-cell Resistance to Oncogenic Transformation. Blood Cancer Discovery 5(4): 229-233, July 1 2024.

Ruella M.: CAR-T Therapy for All: Addressing the Access Gap. Transplant Cell Therapy 30(7): 644-645, July 2024 Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.jtct.2024.06.011.

Patel RP, Ghilardi G, Zhang Y, Chiang YH, Xie W, Guruprasad P, Kim KH, Chun I, Angelos MG, Pajarillo R, Hong SJ, Lee YG, Shestova O, Shaw C, Cohen I, Gupta A, Vu T, Qian D, Yang S, Nimmagadda A, Snook AE, Siciliano N, Rotolo A, Inamdar A, Harris J, Ugwuanyi O, Wang M, Carturan A, Paruzzo L, Chen L, Ballard HJ, Blanchard T, Xu C, Abdel-Mohsen M, Gabunia K, Wysocka M, Linette GP, Carreno B, Barrett DM, Teachey DT, Posey AD, Powell DJ Jr, Sauter CT, Pileri S, Pillai V, Scholler J, Rook AH, Schuster SJ, Barta SK, Porazzi P, Ruella M.: CD5 deletion enhances the antitumor activity of adoptive T cell therapies. Science Immunology 9(97): eadn6509, July 19 2024.

Chong EA, Kumashie KG, Chong ER, Fabrizio J, Gupta A, Svoboda J, Barta SK, Walsh KM, Napier EB, Lundberg RK, Nasta SD, Gerson JN, Landsburg DJ, Gonzalez J, Gaano A, Weirick ME, McAllister CM, Awofolaju M, John GN, Kammerman SC, Novacek J, Pajarillo R, Lundgreen KA, Tanenbaum N, Gouma S, Drapeau EM, Adamski S, D'Andrea K, Pattekar A, Hicks A, Korte S, Sharma H, Herring S, Williams JC, Hamilton JT, Bates P, Hensley SE, Prak ETL, Greenplate AR, Wherry EJ, Schuster SJ, Ruella M, Vella LA.: Immunologic Predictors of Vaccine Responsiveness in Patients With Lymphoma and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. The Journal of Infectious Diseases 230(1): 15-27, Jul 2024 Notes: doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiae106.

Guruprasad P, Carturan A, Zhang Y, Cho JH, Kumashie KG, Patel RP, Kim KH, Lee JS, Lee Y, Kim JH, Chung J, Joshi A, Cohen I, Shestov M, Ghilardi G, Harris J, Pajarillo R, Angelos M, Lee YG, Liu S, Rodriguez J, Wang M, Ballard HJ, Gupta A, Ugwuanyi OH, Hong SJA, Bochi-Layec AC, Sauter CT, Chen L, Paruzzo L, Kammerman S, Shestova O, Liu D, Vella LA, Schuster SJ, Svoboda J, Porazzi P, Ruella M. : The BTLA-HVEM axis restricts CAR T cell efficacy in cancer. Nature Immunology 25(6): 1020-1032, June 2024.

Pajarillo R, Paruzzo L, Carturan A, Ugwuanyi O, White G, Guruprasad P, Ballard HJ, Patel RP, Zhang Y, Lee YG, Hong SJA, Dittami GM, Ruella M.: Streamlined measurement of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell concentration, size, viability and two-color phenotyping during manufacturing. Cytotherapy 26(5): 506-511, May 2024.

Ghilardi G, Fraietta JA, Gerson JN, Van Deerlin VM, Morrissette JJD, Caponetti GC, Paruzzo L, Harris JC, Chong EA, Susanibar Adaniya SP, Svoboda J, Nasta SD, Ugwuanyi OH, Landsburg DJ, Fardella E, Waxman AJ, Chong ER, Patel V, Pajarillo R, Kulikovskaya I, Lieberman DB, Cohen AD, Levine BL, Stadtmauer EA, Frey NV, Vogl DT, Hexner EO, Barta SK, Porter DL, Garfall AL, Schuster SJ, June CH, Ruella M.: T cell lymphoma and secondary primary malignancy risk after commercial CAR T cell therapy. Nature Medicine 30(4): 984-989, Apr 2024 Notes: doi: 10.1038/s41591-024-02826-w.

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Last updated: 03/12/2025
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