Academic Title:
Associate Professor
Primary Appointment:
Pharmacology & Physiology
Administrative Title:
Co-Leader of the Translational Working Group within the UMGCCC
Location:
725 W Lombard St, Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone (Primary):
4107061951
Phone (Secondary):
7153051627
Dr. Nagalo is a translational oncologist and virotherapist developing next-generation oncolytic vesiculoviruses to overcome immunotherapy resistance in hepato-pancreato-biliary and colorectal cancers. Dr. Nagalo leads a research program at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center focused on programmable viral vectors that remodel the tumor microenvironment, enhance neoantigen-driven immunity, and synergize with immune checkpoint blockade.
Vesiculovirus engineering; VMG oncolytic vectors; Cancer gene therapy; Cancer vaccines; TME remodeling; stromal-modifying enzymes; apoptotic effectors; alloantigen delivery; immune-cold to T-cell–inflamed conversion; PDAC; CRC: HCC; viral preclinical testing; proteomics-based biomarker discovery; plasma biomarker identification; HBV-associated HCC; molecular diagnostics for low-resource settings; drug repurposing; viral antigen re-direction; immune memory enhancement; cost-effective cancer immunotherapy.
Nagalo BM, Zhou Y, Loeuillard EJ, Dumbauld C, Barro O, Elliott NM, Baker AT, Arora M, Bogenberger JM, Meurice N, Petit J, Uson PLS Jr, Aslam F, Raupach E, Gabere M, Basnakian A, Simoes CC, Cannon MJ, Post SR, Buetow K, Chamcheu JC, Barrett MT, Duda DG, Jacobs B, Vile R, Barry MA, Roberts LR, Ilyas S, Borad MJ. Characterization of Morreton virus as an oncolytic virotherapy platform for liver cancers. Hepatology. 2023 Jun 1;77(6):1943-1957. doi: 10.1002/hep.32769. Epub 2022 Oct 11. PubMed PMID: 36052732.
Albadawi H, Zhang Z, Keum H, Cevik E, Nagalo BM, Gunduz S, Kita H, Oklu R. Percutaneous delivery of Oncogel for targeted liver tumor ablation and controlled release of therapeutics. Adv Mater. 2024;e2406080. doi: 10.1002/adma.202406080. PubMed PMID: 39148179.
Watters CR, Barro O, Gabere M, Masuda MY, Elliott NM, Raupach EA, Nagalo BM, Borad MJ. Resistance signatures to oncolytic vesiculoviruses in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Mol Ther Oncolytics. 2025;28:200937. doi:10.1016/j.omton.2025.200937. PubMed PMID: 40123977.
Tesfay MZ, Cios A, Ferdous KU, Shelton RS, Mustafa B, Simoes CC, Gokden M, Miousse IR, Krager KJ, Boerma M, Urbaniak A, Kunthur A, Obulareddy S, Eichhorn JM, Post SR, Chamcheu JC, Moaven O, Chabu CY, Duda DG, Conti M, Nardo B, Govindarajan R, Fernandez-Zapico ME, Roberts LR, Borad MJ, Cannon MJ, Basnakian AG, Nagalo BM. Multimodal reprogramming of the tumor microenvironment by MMR and dual checkpoint blockade in hepatocellular carcinoma models. Front Immunol. 2025;16:1679665. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1679665. eCollection 2025. PubMed PMID: 41142777; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC12546120.
Asombang AW, Antwi SO, Omonisi A, Cooley MA, Nartey YA, VanLith CJ, Desalegn H, Okeke E, Rubagumya F, Yonli AT, El-Kassas M, Chipaila J, Nagalo BM, Omar A, Roberts LR. Establishing cancer registries in Africa - focus on hepatopancreatobiliary cancers. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2025 Nov 17;. doi: 10.1038/s41575-025-01138-9. [Epub ahead of print] Review. PubMed PMID: 41249658.
See the complete list of my published work in my bibliography: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1rarwaNVborQi/bibliography/public/
Dr. Nagalo work integrates synthetic virology, cancer gene therapy, tumor immunology, and stromal biology to create programmable viral vectors capable of igniting robust anti-tumor immunity. Across these areas, Dr. Nagalo’s overarching goal is to translate engineered virotherapies into clinically actionable strategies that improve outcomes for patients with highly lethal cancers.
Dr. Nagalo is a translational scientist his clinical specialty area is translational cancer therapeutics, with a strong focus on developing biologically engineered treatments for highly lethal gastrointestinal cancers. Dr. Nagalo collaborates extensively with medical oncologists, surgeon-scientists, hepatologists, and clinical trial teams to translate his engineered viral platforms into patient-ready interventions.
2018 Wellcome Trust Funds Training award, Cardiff University, United Kingdom
2018 K01 Career Development Award, National Cancer Institute
2019 Marley Endowment Funds, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Arizona
2020 Kathryn H. and Roger Penske Career Development Award, Mayo Clinic Arizona
2020 Carolyn Bacon Award to Support Medical Research, Mayo Clinic Arizona
2020 K2R Investigator Award, Mayo Clinic Rochester
2022 AACR Career Development Award, American Association for Cancer Research
2023 Cancer Institute Director’s Spotlight, Winthrop P Rockefeller Cancer Institute, UAMS
2024 NCI Early Investigator Advancement Program (EIAP) Scholar
2024 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award
2021-2022 Ad hoc reviewer, NIH Developmental Therapeutics Study Section (2x/yr)
2021-2022 Ad-hoc reviewer, NIH Endocrine and Metabolic Systems, ZRG1 F06-L (20) (1x/yr)
2022-2023 Ad-hoc reviewer, ILCA Africa Fellowship Program (1x/yr)
2024-present Ad-hoc reviewer, NCI Topic in Basic Cancer Immunology study section (1x/yr)
2024-present Ad-hoc reviewer, NSF STTR Review Panel (2x/yr)
2024-present Ad-hoc reviewer, Croatian Science Foundation Review Panel (1x/yr)
2024-present Ad-hoc reviewer, UKRI, part of UK Research and Innovation (1x/yr)
2025-present Standing member, NCI Translational Immuno-Oncology study section(2x/yr)
Our team specializes in molecular cloning and reverse-genetics platforms for vesiculovirus engineering, viral rescue and titration, and immune-modulation assays including cytokine profiling and lymphocyte activation.
We also utilize quantitative and targeted proteomics workflows, biomarker discovery pipelines, and assay development for HBV-associated HCC. Additionally, we support the design and optimization of molecular diagnostic tools compatible with low-resource laboratory settings.
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