Vermeer Lab

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Primary Research Focus

The Vermeer Lab focuses on defining mechanisms of metastasis and identifying novel targets for therapeutic intervention.

Recent work from the Vermeer lab shows that tumors release small vesicles called exosomes that induce tumor innervation. Patients with densely innervated tumors suffer with increased rates of metastasis.

Now that we have identified a mechanism driving tumor innervation, the Vermeer Lab is currently focused on developing ways to block it. The lab studies many different types of solid tumors to better understand at the molecular level why some tumors are more innervated than others. The goal is to define key signatures that result in densely innervated tumors and develop therapies to block this effect.

The lab’s studies span the breadth of scientific techniques from basic/classical approaches (e.g., molecular biology, protein biochemistry and microscopy) to complex in vivo studies using wild-type as well as transgenic mouse models to, finally, proceed to validation studies using human samples.

The Vermeer lab researches changes in tumor cells by not only analyzing genetic alterations but also determining how these changes affect protein expression, localization and function. Importantly, the lab equally focuses on cells in the tumor microenvironment to define how they contribute to disease initiation and/or progression.

Primary Research Group

Cancer Biology and Immunotherapies

Secondary Research Groups

(605) 312-6110

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About the Vermeer Lab

About Paola Vermeer, Associate Scientist

Dr. Paola Vermeer obtained her Ph.D. from Columbia University in New York City in 1998. She did a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Iowa with Dr. Michael J. Welsh, where she stayed on as a Research Scientist until 2008.

The Vermeer laboratory focuses on tumor innervation. We have discovered that most, if not all, solid tumors are innervated with single fibers. These fibers course throughout tumor tissue. Patients with densely innervated tumors do worse than those with sparsely innervated disease. While we have defined that tumor-released exosomes recruit nerves to the tumor bed, we are now working on determining the mechanism by which these tumor-infiltrating nerves contribute to disease progression. Studies in the laboratory focus on the effects of tumor-infiltrating nerves on angiogenesis, response to treatment and immune escape. Moreover, having defined a mechanism of nerve recruitment, we are currently working on therapeutic ways to block this.

Academic Affiliations and Training

Academic Affiliations

  • Assistant Professor, University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine, Department of Surgery (2009-present)
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, South Dakota State University, Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry (2015-present)

Professional Affiliations

  • American Association for Cancer Research
  • International Association for Extracellular Vesicles

Highlighted Publications

Madeo M, Colbert PL, Vermeer DW, Lucido CT, Vichaya EG, Grossberg AJ, Cain JT, Muirhead D, Rickel AP, Hong Z, Spanos WC, Lee JH, Dantzer R, Vermeer PD. Cancer exosomes induce tumor neo-neurogenesis potentiating tumor growth. Nature Communications 9: 4284 (2018).

Vermeer PD. Exosomal induction of tumor innervation. Cancer Research, invited review, [epub ahead of print; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472. CAN-18-3995] (2019).

Lucido CT, Wynja E, Madeo M, Schwartz LE, Drapkin R, Vermeer PD. Cervical cancer-derived exosomes induce neurite outgrowth. Gynecologic Oncology, (2019) [epub ahead of print].

Balood M, Ahmadi M, Eichwald T, Ahmadi A, Majdoubi A, Roversi K, Roversi K, Lucido CT, Restaino AC, Huang S, Ji L, Huang KC, Semerena E, Thomas SC, Trevino AE, Merrison H, Parrin A, Doyle B, Vermeer DW, Spanos WC, Williamson CS, Seehus CR, Foster SL, Dai H, Shu CJ, Rangachari M, Thibodeau J, V Del Rincon S, Drapkin R, Rafei M, Ghasemlou N, Vermeer PD, Woolf CJ, Talbot S. Nociceptor neurons affect cancer immunosurveillance. Nature. 2022 Nov;611(7935):405-412. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05374-w. Epub 2022 Nov 2. PMID: 36323780; PMCID: PMC9646485.

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Awards

  • Award for Research of the Highest Caliber, Postdoctoral Fellows Category, University of Iowa (1999)
  • Award for Research of the Highest Caliber, Postdoctoral Fellows Category, University of Iowa (2001)
  • Keystone Travel Award (2002)
  • Award for Research of the Highest Caliber, Postdoctoral Fellows Category, University of Iowa (2002)
  • Award for Best Basic Science Abstract, Junior Faculty Category, University of Iowa (2003)

Lab Projects and News

Tumor innervation and disease progression

Role: Project Principal Investigator

Several projects in the Vermeer lab focus on defining how tumor-infiltrating nerves contribute to disease progression. These projects utilize a combination of basic techniques (western blot, molecular biology), cancer assays (proliferation, migration) and techniques traditionally utilized in neuroscience (neuronal tracing, synaptic transmission) to better understand the neural contributions to cancer progression.

Blocking tumor innervation

Role: Project Principal Investigator

Having defined a mechanism that recruits nerves to the tumor bed, the Vermeer lab is currently working on identifying novel therapeutics to block tumor innervation.

Meet the Vermeer Team

Sarah Faber

PhD Student

Sarah graduated in 2019 with a degree in Neuroscience from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. During college she interned for a summer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying the effects of gestational intermittent hypoxia on microglia. After graduation, she spent a year and a half working in a clinical research lab at Mayo Clinic studying REM sleep behavior disorder and its association with Parkinson’s disease. She joined the Vermeer lab in May 2022 where she studies the transcriptional changes of intra-tumoral neurons in head & neck and ovarian cancers, and how mutations in the tumor cells and treatment may influence these changes.

Anthony Restaino

MD/PhD Student

Tony graduated from the University of Chicago in 2015 majoring in Cellular and Molecular Biology. While in college he studied the role of the HDAC1 protein in the epigenetic regulation in T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Following graduation he spent 2 years in the VA hospital system studying genetic predispositions to the development of PTSD. In the Vermeer lab, he studies exosome-mediated neurite outgrowth in head and neck cancers, and how differences in the exosomal cargo of HPV+ and HPV- head and neck cancers leads to differences in innervation and clinical outcomes.

Jeff Barr, PhD

Staff Scientist

Obtained PhD from The University of South Dakota in 2011. Completed post-doctoral fellowship at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in the Dept. of Pharmacology and Center for Substance Abuse Research and stayed there as a research scientist until 2020. Research there investigated neuroadaptations in specific receptors, pathways, and circuits involved in reinforcement/reward in response to drug exposure, stress, anxiety, and relapse to drug use. Joined the Vermeer lab September 2020 as a staff scientist. Projects in the lab revolve around characterization of tumor infiltrating nerves including gene expression, morphology, physiological properties, and connectivity. As well as potential contributions of altered neuronal properties to disease progression in multiple animal models of cancer.

Austin Walz, M.S.

Senior Research Specialist

Austin received a master’s degree in science from South Dakota State University, he has also had research training roles at Mayo clinic. He joined the Vermeer Lab in June of 2021 and oversees day to day operations in the lab as well as supervises students, interns, and other technical staff.