Biography

Dr. George Aslanidi is a professor at The Hormel Institute and leader of Molecular Bioengineering and Vaccine Development research sections. Dr. Aslanidi received his B.S. and M.S. from Tbilisi State University in Republic of Georgia and Ph.D. from the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics of Russian Academy of Science at Puschino. Dr. Aslanidi completed his post-doctoral work at University of Florida, Department of Genetic & Miclobiology in the School of Medicine. 

Prior to joining The Hormel Institute, Dr. Aslanidi was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at University of Florida, where he conducted research on gene therapy of single gene diseases and cancer, and also taught laboratory research to pre-med students and clinical fellows.

Education

• PhD: Biophysics, Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics, Pushchino, Russia, 2004
• BS: Biophysics, Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, 1993

Professional memberships

• 2013–present: Member of American Association of Cancer Research
• 2010–present: Member of American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy

Research Interests

Over the course of the past years, my research has focused on biology, development, production and application of recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) as vectors for gene therapy for single gene disorders and immune system modulation, including both the induction and avoidance of antigen-specific responses, depending on the therapeutic need and cancer immunotherapy.

Primary Research Areas

• Gene Therapy
• Immunotherapy
• Translational Research

Research Specialties

• Adeno-Associated Virus
• Viral vectors
• Genetic Bioengineering
• Dendritic Cells
• Immunomodulation
• Cancer Vaccine

Publications

1. Karina Krotova and George Aslanidi. Modifiers of Adeno-Associated Virus-Mediated Gene Expression in Implication for Serotype-Universal Neutralizing Antibody Assay. Human Gene Therapy. 31(19-20):1124-1131, 2020.
2. Krotova K, Khodayari N, Oshins R, Aslanidi G, Brantly ML. Neutrophil elastase promotes macrophage cell adhesion and cytokine production through the integrin-Src kinases pathway. Scientific Reports, 28; 10(1):15874, 2020.
3. Karina Krotova, Andrew Day, George Aslanidi. Engineered AAV6 based Vaccine Induces High Cytolytic Anti-Tumor Activity by Direct Targeting of Dendritic Cells and Improved Antigen Presentation, Molecular Therapy – Oncolytics, 7; 15: 166-177, 2019.
4. Chen M, Maeng K, Nawab A, Francois RA, Bray JK, Reinhard MK, Boye SL, Hauswirth WW, Kaye FJ, Aslanidi G, Srivastava A, Zajac-Kaye M. Efficient Gene Delivery and Expression in Pancreas and Pancreatic Tumors by Capsid-Optimized AAV8 Vectors. Human Gene Therapy Methods. 28(1):49-59, 2017.
5. Rosario AM, Cruz PE, CeballosDiaz C, Strickland MR, Siemienski Z, Pardo M, Schob KL, LiA, Aslanidi GV, Srivastava A, Golde TE, Chakrabarty P. Microglia-specific targeting by novel capsid-modified AAV6 vectors. Molecular Therapy Methods & Clinical Development. 13; 3:16026, 2016.
6. Rana Sayroo, Diego Nolasco, Zifei Yin, Yanerys Colon Cortes, Munjal Pandya, Chen Ling, George Aslanidi. Development of novel AAV serotype 6 based vectors with selective tropism for human cancer cells. Gene Therapy, 23 (1):18-25, 2016.
7. Munjal Pandya, Kellee Britt, Brad Hoffman, Chen Ling, George Aslanidi. Reprogramming immune response with capsid optimized AAV6 vectors for immunotherapy of cancer. Journal of Immunotherapy, 38 (7): 292-8, 2015.
8. Jheel Pandya, Luis Ortiz, Chen Ling, Angela E. Rivers, George Aslanidi. Rationally Designed Capsid and Transgene Cassette of AAV6 Vectors for Dendritic Cell-based Cancer Immunotherapy. Immunology and Cell Biology. 92(2):116-23, 2014.
9. Aslanidi G, Lamb K, Zolotukhin S. An inducible system for highly efficient production of recombinant Adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors in insect Sf9 cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 106(13): 5059-64, 2009.