Silvia Guglietta, Ph.D.

Dr. Sylvia Guglietta

Assistant Professor
Department: Regenerative Medicine
Programs: Cancer Immunology; Mucosal Immunology; Neuroinflammation

 

 

Research Interests:

Dr. Guglietta received her PhD in Immunology at the University of Rome “Sapienza” (Rome, Italy) where she studied the escape mechanisms employed by hepatitis C virus (HCV) to evade host immune system in acutely infected patients and contributed to the identification of immunogenic determinants for human T and B lymphocytes in patients congenitally infected with Toxoplasma gondii with the aim of developing effective vaccination strategies. After her PhD, Dr. Guglietta performed post-doctoral training at the European Institute of Oncology (Milan, Italy) in the Laboratory of Mucosal Immunology and Dendritic Cell Vaccination directed by Dr. Rescigno supported by competitive extramural funding from the Italian Association for Cancer Research and Umberto Veronesi Foundation. Dr. Guglietta joined MUSC in 2018 and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Regenerative Medicine.

Dr. Guglietta has a long-standing interest in the mechanistic understanding of the interplay between immune responses and microbiota in the development and progression of cancer and inflammatory diseases. In this context, Dr. Guglietta described a novel link between neutrophils and complement in the development of venous thromboembolism in small bowel cancer. Furthermore, she contributed to the elucidation of the immune responses elicited by fecal microbiota transplantation during intestinal inflammation and to the discovery of microbiota species that protect from intestinal tumorigenesis in human and mice. Recently, Dr. Guglietta generated a novel spontaneous model of colon cancer by genetically manipulating complement effector molecules.

Guglietta laboratory interests encompass three main areas:

  • Interplay between complement anaphylatoxin C3a/C3aR axis, microbiota and immune responses in colon cancer development and inflammatory bowel diseases
  • Mechanisms underlying the hematogenous dissemination of hepatic metastases during colon cancer
  • Gut-brain axis in neuroinflammation

These projects will take advantage of cutting-edge single cell technologies, such as mass cytometry and single cell RNAseq. The gnotobiotic facility and the advanced imaging core within the DDRC will provide a valuable asset to the ongoing research in Guglietta laboratory.

Publications:

PubMed Collection