Amelie Daugherty-Lopes

Amelie grew up in Auvergne, France, surrounded by animals, nature, and mountains. Her first encounter with the world of scientific research came during her B.S. in Biological and Biochemistry Analysis at Clermont Auvergne University, where she studied the role of pathogenic E. coli strains isolated from colorectal cancer (CRC) patients in carcinogenesis. Since then, she has developed a feverish passion for biology and immunology research - a highly infectious condition she has no intention of curing. And as the symptoms only worsened, she went on to graduate from AgroParistech Engineering School and Pierre & Marie Curie University with a dual M.S. in Health Engineering and Immunology while working at Sanofi Research and Development (Vitry-Sur-Seine, France) as an apprentice engineer helping to develop new cancer immunotherapies. During her Ph.D., conducted between Clermont Auvergne University and Sanofi R&D, she investigated how CRC-associated E. coli reshape the colonic tumor immune microenvironment and influence response to immune checkpoint blockade. Her work showed that pks-island+ E. coli induce a pro-carcinogenic environment and may serve as negative prognostic markers for CRC therapies. Driven by a gut-brain curiosity, she pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute (NIH, Bethesda) and moved to the United States, accompanied by her cat Youko (who was determined to live the American Cat Dream). There she identified cellular and molecular correlates and predictive markers of brain melanoma metastasis response to immunotherapy and explored how microbiota modulation and chronic infection influence metastasis development, progression, and treatment efficacy. Now, as a senior research scientist in the Lukens lab, she is interested in understanding neuro-immune crosstalk implicated in Alzheimer’s disease and in discovering new molecular targets for therapeutic intervention. Outside of the lab, Amelie enjoys spending time with her wife and daughter, having brunch with friends (cheese and baguettes are mandatory, bien sûr!), discovering new places, hiking, listening to music, and working out