Rate My Professor Maria Ascierto

Professor Maria Ascierto is Professor of Translational Cancer Immunology in the School of Cancer Sciences at the University of Glasgow, leading the Translational Pharmacology and Immunology (TPI) laboratory. This laboratory integrates clinical trials, biospecimens management, and biomedical informatics to advance translational research and clinical biomarker discovery. Employing precision immunology techniques, her team utilizes cutting-edge proteomic methods such as spatial immune profiling, spectral cytometry, and ultrasensitive measurements of chemokines and cytokines, all adhering to Good Clinical Laboratory Practice (GCLP) standards. Her research investigates patterns of immune evasion underlying resistance to immunotherapy and other therapeutic interventions, with the goal of developing innovative immunotherapeutic treatments. She particularly studies melanoma and gastrointestinal (GI) cancers as paradigms for immunotherapy-sensitive and resistant malignancies.

In addition to her professorial role, Professor Ascierto serves as Head of the Scotland CRUK Clinical Biomarkers Hub, contributing significantly to precision oncology. She has obtained major grants, including one from the Beatson Cancer Charity for 2025-2027 titled 'Unleash Immune-Monitoring in Patients with Solid Tumours using Cytek Spectral Cytometry' and another from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Endowment Funds for 2024-2027 titled 'Unchaining spatial omics and immune monitoring in clinical practice through LUNAPHORE technology: Implications for Precision Immunotherapy.' Notable publications include 'Phase 1/2 study of monalizumab plus durvalumab in patients with advanced solid tumors' (Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, 2024), 'Multi-omic profiling reveals discrepant immunogenic properties and a unique tumor microenvironment among melanoma brain metastases' (npj Precision Oncology, 2023), 'Resistance to Durvalumab and Durvalumab plus Tremelimumab Is Associated with Functional STK11 Mutations in Patients with Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer' (Cancer Discovery, 2021), 'Transcriptional Mechanisms of Resistance to Anti–PD-1 Therapy' (Clinical Cancer Research, 2017), 'The Intratumoral Balance between Metabolic and Immunologic Gene Expression Is Associated with Anti–PD-1 Response in Patients with Renal Cell Carcinoma' (Cancer Immunology Research, 2016), and 'Oncogenic signalling pathways in cancer immunotherapy: leader or follower in this delicate dance?' (International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2025). Prior to Glasgow, she held a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins Medicine. She is an editorial board member for Precision Oncology.