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Shawn Lupold

Shawn Lupold, PhD

Johns Hopkins Affiliations:
  • Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty

Languages

  • English

Gender

Male

About Shawn Lupold

Professional Titles

  • Catherine Iola and J. Smith Michael Distinguished Professor of Urology
  • Co-Director, Prostate Cancer Program

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Urology

Background

Dr. Lupold is the Catherine Iola and J. Smith Michael Distinguished Professor in Urology and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He also has appointments in the Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences and the Cellular and Molecular Medicine (CMM) Graduate Training Program. His research focuses on the molecular biology of prostate cancer, aiming to elucidate disease mechanisms and develop future diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic approaches.  Areas of interest include microRNA and noncoding RNA biology, the tumor immune microenvironment, experimental therapeutics, and high-throughput library development and screening.

Dr. Lupold received his B.S. from the University of Maryland, College Park, and trained as a pre-doctoral IRTA fellow at the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis at the National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health. He received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Biochemistry, Cellular, and Molecular Biology (BCMB) graduate program. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in prostate cancer gene therapeutics at the Brady Urological Research Institute at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Lupold has led multiple private, NIH, and DOD funded research projects on the study of prostate cancer molecular biology, detection, and targeting.  He has published extensively on prostate cancer biology and holds several patents for discoveries associated with prostate-specific cell targeting and detection. He has received recognition for his work including the Society of Basic Urologic Research Young Investigator Award and collaborative work that received the Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) Team Science Award. Dr. Lupold has also served as Associate Editor of the American Journal of Clinical and Experimental Urology and The Prostate, as a member of the American Urological Association Research Council, and as Treasurer, Vice President, and President of the Society of Basic Urologic Research. 

Additional Academic Titles

Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences, Professor of Oncology

Contact for Research Inquiries

600 N Wolfe St.
Park 209
Baltimore, MD 21287

Research Interests

Cancer, Directed evolution, Gene/drug delivery, Magnetic particles, Membrane proteins, Molecular imaging, Nanoparticles, Non-viral gene/drug delivery, Prostate cancer, Radiation oncology, Targeting, Urological oncology, Viral gene/drug delivery

Lab Website

Shawn Lupold Laboratory - Lab Website

  • The Shawn Lupold Laboratory studies the biology of urologic malignancies, like prostate cancer, to create new experimental diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic agents.

Research Summary

The Lupold laboratory focuses on prostate cancer biology with the goal of exploiting prostate tissue-specificity to develop new diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic agents.

Research projects stem from basic cancer biology—such as studying the role of microRNAs in the prostate cancer phenotype—to translational projects, such as targeted siRNA and gene therapy.

One area of interest is high-diversity polymer libraries, including aptamers and peptides, which can be screened to identify high-affinity cancer ligands.

Using this approach, Dr. Lupold developed the first RNA aptamers targeted to a cancer cell-surface antigen. He and others have applied these PSMA-targeting aptamers to deliver various therapeutic and imaging packages to prostate cancer cells and tumors.

Dr. Lupold is involved in additional research projects that focus on prostate cancer biology and developing experimental diagnostic and therapeutic agents for urologic cancers.

He also co-holds four patents related to his research.

Selected Publications

  • Lupold SE., Hicke B.J., Lin Y., Coffey DS. Identification and characterization of nuclease-stabilized RNA molecules that bind human prostate cancer cells via the prostate-specific membrane antigen. Cancer Research. 62(14):4029-33, 2002.

  • An androgen receptor regulated microRNA which promotes hormone dependent and independent prostate cancer growth.  Cancer Research. 69(18): 7165-9, 2009. PMCID: PMC2861586.

  • Hatano K, Kumar B, Zhang Y, Coulter JB, Hedayati M, Mears B, Ni X, Kudrolli TA, Chowdhury WH, Rodriguez R, DeWeese TL, and Lupold SE.  A functional screen identifies miRNAs that inhibit DNA repair and sensitize prostate cancer cells to ionizing radiation.  Nucleic Acids Res 2015 Apr 30;43(8):4075-86.  PMCID:  PMC4417178

  • Ribas J*, Ni X*, Castanares M, Liu M, Rodriguez R, Mendell JT, and Lupold SE. A novel source for miR-21 expression through the alternative polyadenylation of VMP1 gene transcripts.  Nucleic Acids Res. 2012 Aug 1;40(14):6821-33. PMCID: PMC3413119

  • Ribas J, Ni X, Haffner M, Wentzel EA, Salmasi1 AH, Chowdhury WE, Kudrolli TA, Yegnasubramanian A, Luo J, Rodriguez T, Mendell JT, Lupold SE.  miR-23.Ni X, Zhang Y, Ribas J, Chowdhury WH, Castanares M, Zhang Z, Laiho M, DeWeese TL, Lupold SE. Prostate-targeted radiosensitization via aptamer-shRNA chimeras in human tumor xenografts.  Journal of Clinical Investigation.  J Clin Invest. 2011 Jun 1; 121(6):2383-90. PMCID: PMC3104752

Courses & Syllabi

Topics in Interdisciplinary Medicine (TIME) - Cancer course, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, ME:800.651, 5/1/17 - 5/1/23

Patents

  • Radiation sensitization agents for prostate cancer, US 9,029,340
  • Peptides for Targeting the Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen, US 7,749,986
  • Nucleic Acid Ligands to the Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen, US 6,933,114
  • Compositions and methods for retargeting virus constructs, US 9,458,473
  • Compositions and methods for generating and screening adenoviral libraries, US 9,018,138
  • Compositions and methods for detecting and quantifying circulating tumor cells (CTCs), USPA 20140017668
  • Adenoviral fiber exchange shuttle system, US 8,088,621
  • A PSMA-based Gene Reporter-probe System., US 11,124,845

Honors

  • President, Society of Basic Urologic Research, 11/1/23
  • President Elect, Society of Basic Urologic Research, 11/1/22
  • Team Science Award, Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, 1/1/21
  • Treasurer, Society of Basic Urologic Research, 11/1/16
  • The Catherine Iola and J. Smith Michael Distinguished Professorship in Urology, The James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, 7/1/16
  • Member at Large, Society of Basic Urologic Research, 11/1/13
  • The Hinman Urologic Education Endowed Fund Scholar, The James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, 7/1/13
  • Phyllis and Brian L. Harvey Scholar, Patrick C. Walsh Prostate Cancer Research Fund, 1/1/09
  • Society for Basic Urologic Research Young Investigator Award, 1/1/09
  • Department of Defense PCRP New Investigator Award, 1/1/08
  • BioVision.Nxt Fellow, 1/1/07
  • Virginia and Warren Schwerin Scholar, Patrick C. Walsh Prostate Cancer Research Fund, 1/1/06
  • CPDR Distinguished Lecturer, 1/1/05
  • Prostate Cancer Foundation Career Development Award, 1/1/04
  • Pre-doctoral Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA), 1/1/93

Graduate Program Affiliations

  • Cellular and Molecular Medicine (CMM)

Memberships

  • American Association for Cancer Research
  • American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy
  • Society for Basic Urologic Research
  • American Urological Associciation

Additional Training

Department of Urology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 2005, Post-Doctoral Fellowship; Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 1995, Pre-Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) Fellowship

Expertise

Education

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Ph.D., 2001

University of Maryland (College Park)

B.S., 1992