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Marco Ruella, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology-Oncology)

  • Project Member, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
  • Scientific Director, Lymphoma Program, Division of Hematology and Oncology
  • Leader, Cancer Research, Institute for Immunology
  • Full Member, Abramson Cancer Center, Immunobiology Program
  • Scientific Director, Richard Berman Center for Innovations in CLL and lymphomas
  • Medical Director , Cellular Therapies, Penn Global Medicine
  • Attending, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Department: Medicine
Division: Hematology-Oncology


Graduate Group Affiliations


Contact Information

South Tower 8-112
Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine
3400 Civic Center Blvd
Philadelphia, PA 191004
Office: 215-746-4880
Lab Phone: 215-573-8538
Fax: 215-573-3638
Email: mruella@upenn.edu


I3H Keywords

  • Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy

Publications

Pubmed Link


Links


Education

  • MD (Medical Degree)
    University of Torino, Italy , 2007

Post-Graduate Training

  • Research Scholar in Cancer Biology
    Federico II University, Naples, Italy, 2007 - 2008
  • Resident/Fellow in Hematology
    San Giovanni Basttista University Hospital and Umberto I Hospital, Torino, Italy, 2008 - 2012
  • Post-doctoral Fellow
    Center for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania, 2012 - 2016

Certifications

  • Italian Board of Internal Medicine , 2008
  • Italian Board of Hematology , 2012

Description of Clinical Expertise

Dr. Ruella treat patients affected by hematological cancers and specializes in immunotherapy approaches.

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.


Description of ITMAT Expertise

Immunotherapy
Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cells
CART-19
Hematology
Cell Therapy
Stem Cell Transplantation

Selected Publications

  • Monette A, Aguilar-Mahecha A, Altinmakas E, Angelos MG, Assad N, Batist G, Bommareddy PK, Bonilla DL, Borchers CH, Church SE, Ciliberto G, Cogdill AP, Fattore L, Hacohen N, Haris M, Lacasse V, Lie WR, Mehta A, Ruella M, Sater S, Spatz A, Taouli B, Tarhoni I, Gonzalez-Kozlova E, Tirosh I, Wang X, Gnjatic S. : The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Perspective on Liquid Biopsy- and Radiomics-Based Technologies for Immuno-oncology Biomarker Discovery and Application. Clin Cancer Res. 31(12) : 2278-2293, June 2025 Notes: doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-24-3791.
  • Sullivan RJ, Cillo AR, Ferris RL, Jenkins RW, Kluger HM, Kok M, Lipson EJ, Paruzzo L, Redmond WL, Ruella M, Schalper KA, Thommen DS, Tolley K, Yarchoan M, Garnett-Benson C. : SITC vision: Opportunities for deeper understanding of mechanisms of anti-tumor activity, toxicity, and resistance to optimize cancer immunotherapy. J Immunother Cancer. June 2025 Notes: doi: 10.1136/jitc-2025-011929.
  • Lϋӧnd F, Whalen J, Song Y, Schriefer K, Newcombe R, Orlando EJ, Choi SM, Ruella M, Fraietta JA, Schuster SJ, Brogdon JL, Niederst MJ, Treanor LM. : DLBCL cells emerge post CD19 CAR-T with cross-antigen resistance and a gene signature predictive of clinical CAR-T response. Blood Cancer Discov. June 2025 Notes: doi: 10.1158/2643-3230.BCD-24-0176.
  • Ahmed SO, El Fakih R, Kharfan-Dabaja MA, Syed F, Mufti G, Chabannon C, Rondelli D, Mohty M, Al Ahmari AA, Gauthier J, Ruella M, Perales MA, Hashmi S, Alfraih F, Ghorashian S, Alzahrani M, Abba Z, Koh M, Pasquini M, Ruggeri A, Garderet L, Albabtain A, Weisdorf D, Greinix H, Samarkandi H, Hamad N, Atsuta Y, Hamadani M, Hari P, Majhail NS, Greco R, Alzahrani H, Sureda A, Yakoub-Agha I, Alahmari AD, Niederwieser D, Aljurf M. : Setting up a Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy Program: A Framework for Delivery from the Worldwide Network for Blood & Marrow Transplantation. Transplant Cell Ther. May 2025 Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.jtct.2025.05.012.
  • Svoboda J, Landsburg DJ, Gerson J, Nasta SD, Barta SK, Chong EA, Cook M, Frey NV, Shea J, Cervini A, Marshall A, Four M, Davis MM, Jadlowsky JK, Chew A, Pequignot E, Gonzalez V, Noll JH, Paruzzo L, Rojas-Levine J, Plesa G, Scholler J, Siegel DL, Levine BL, Porter DL, Ghassemi S, Ruella M, Rech A, Leskowitz RM, Fraietta JA, Hwang WT, Hexner E, Schuster SJ, June CH. : Enhanced CAR T-Cell Therapy for Lymphoma after Previous Failure N Engl J Med 392 : 1824-1835, May 2025
  • Luciani F, Safavi A, Guruprasad P, Chen L, Ruella M. : Advancing CAR T-cell Therapies with Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Challenges. Blood Cancer Discov. 6(3) : 159-162, May 2025 Notes: doi: 10.1158/2643-3230.BCD-23-0240.
  • Stefan K. Barta, Stephen J. Schuster, Jakub Svoboda, Jordan Spencer Carter, Elise A. Chong, Daniel J. Landsburg, Sunita Dwivedy Nasta, Ruchi Patel, Joseph A. Fraietta, Colin Thomas, Aditya Nimmagadda, Lavanya Peddada, Adam Snook, Nicholas Anthony Siciliano, Ruella M, and Rosemary Mazanet. : CD5-deleted chimeric antigen receptor cells (Senza5 CART5) to enhance immunotherapy against T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma: A first-in-human phase I clinical trial (NCT06420089). Journal of Clinical Oncology 43(16) May 2025 Notes: https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2025.43.16_suppl.TPS7087
  • Thomas Luo, Luca Paruzzo, Sandra P. Susanibar Adaniya, Alfred L. Garfall, Matthew Ho, Shivani Kapur, Ruella M, Edward Allen Stadtmauer, Federico Stella, Dan T. Vogl, Adam J. Waxman, and Adam D. Cohen. : Disease response at apheresis and association with long-term outcomes following CAR-T cells for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). Journal of Clinical Oncology 43(16) May 2025 Notes: https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2025.43.16_suppl.7518
  • Paruzzo L, Ruella M. : CAR T-cell therapy in LMICs: approval of talicabtagene autoleucel in India. Lancet Haematol. 12(4) : e236-e238, April 2025 Notes: doi: 10.1016/S2352-3026(25)00040-7.
  • Fiore D, Cappelli LV, Zhaoqi L, Kotlov N, Sorokina M, Phillip J, Zumbo P, Yoffe L, Ghione P, Wang A, Han X, Taylor A, Chiu W, Fragliasso V, Tabbo F, Zamponi N, Di Siervi N, Kayembe C, Medico G, Patel RP, Gaudiano M, Machiorlatti R, Astone G, Cacciapuoti MT, Zanetti G, Pignataro C, Eric RA, Patel S, Zammarchi F, Zanettini C, Queiroz L, Nikitina A, Kudryashova O, Karelin A, Nikitin D, Tychinin D, Postovalova E, Bagaev A, Svekolkin V, Belova E, Tikhonova K, Degryse S, Xu C, Novero D, Ponzoni M, Tiacci E, Falini B, Song J, Khodos I, De Stanchina E, Macari G, Cafforio L, Gardini S, Piva R, Medico E, Ng SY, Moskowitz A, Epstein Z, Intlekofer A, Ahmed D, Chan WC, Martin P, Ruan J, Bertoni F, Foà R, Brody JD, Weinstock DM, Osan J, Santambrogio L, Elemento O, Betel D, Tam W, Ruella M, Cerchietti L, Rabadan R, Horwitz S, Inghirami G. : A patient-derived T cell lymphoma biorepository uncovers pathogenetic mechanisms and host-related therapeutic vulnerabilities. Cell Rep Med. 6(4) April 2025 Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2025.102029.