Sara Deola, MD, PhD

Investigator Cell and Gene Therapy Specialist
Advanced Cell Therapy Core
Sara Deola, MD, PhD

Dr. Deola is a clinical scientist with a Board Certification in Hematology-Oncology from University San Raffaele Vita-Salute, Milan, Italy and a PhD in Experimental Hematology from the University of Milan Bicocca, Italy (training at Telethon Institute for GenE Therapy, TIGET). Her research focus during PhD was on gene transfer in Hematopoietic Stem Cells.

Her clinical training was at the BMT Unit of Hospital San Raffaele, and she worked 5 years as staff physician in the Hematology and BMT Department of the General Hospital of Bolzano, Italy, mostly following allogeneic HSCT patients.
She joined Sidra Medicine in 2014, as Bone Marrow Transplant Program Manager in Translational Medicine/Research, and she is holding a PI position since June 2017 in the Advanced Cell Therapy Core.

Within the Advanced Cell Therapy Core, Sara Deola is leading research projects on:

  • Gene therapy of Hematopoietic Stem Cells in Hemophilia;
  • Development of a systemic therapy in Epidermolysis Bullosa;
  • Development of anti-tumor engineered Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells for clinical applications;
  • Graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (immunology and transcriptomics);
  • B-T cell lymphocyte interactions in Graft-versus-host disease;

And she is involved in projects on:

  • Acute leukemias (genetics, epigenetics, proteomics)

Dhanya Kizhakayil, PhD
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Email: dkizhakayil (@) sidra.org
At Sidra since 6th May 2018

Anjud Al-Mohannadi, MSc
Research Specialist
Email: aalmohannadi2 (@) sidra.org
At Sidra since 1st August 2016

Aisheh Ibrahim Khalel Ali, PhD
Research Specialist I
Email: AAli11@sidra.org
At Sidra since 21st November 2021

Selected publications (†co-first, *corresponding):

  1. CD14+/CD31+ monocytes expanded by UM171 correct hemophilia A in zebrafish upon lentiviral gene transfer of factor VIII.
    Elnaggar M, Al-Mohannadi A, Hasan W, Abdelrahman D, Al-Kubaisi MJ, Pavlovski I, Gentilcore G, Sathappan A, Kizhakayil D, Ali AI, Mohan S, Olagunju D, Cugno C, Grivel JC, Borsotti C, Follenzi A, Da’as SI, Deola S*.
    Blood Adv. 2023 Mar 14;7(5).
  2. Deola S*, Cugno C, Comoli P, Guido I, Rubert L, Zecca M, Zanolini D, Follenzi A, Langes M, Negri G, Tauber M, Pusceddu I, Cavattoni I, Svaldi M, Wang E, Rutella S, and Marincola FM. “Evidence for CD19B-CD8T Cell Interactions in Blood and Tissues from Patients with Graft-Versus-Host Disease.” Bone Marrow Transplant (2017) 52(3):459-462.
  3. Aiuti A, Slavin S, Aker M, Ficara F, Deola S, Mortellaro A, Morecki S, Andolfi G, Tabucchi A, Carlucci F, Marinello E, Cattaneo F, Vai S, Servida P, Miniero R, Roncarolo MG, Bordignon C. Correction of ADA-SCID by stem cell gene therapy combined with nonmyeloablative conditioning. 2002 Jun 28;296(5577):2410-3.

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