Lora Stojanovic, MS, PhD

1999 - 2009     Serbian Literature, Faculty of Philosophy, Serbia

2010 - 2014    AS., Biology, Community College of Baltimore County, Maryland (CCBC)          

2016 - 2018     MS., Cellular and Molecular Biomedical Science, University of Maryland (UM)  

2018 - 2023     Ph.D., Human genetics, University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), Thesis Advisor - Dr. Feyruz Rassool

“The Role of Pathogen Mimicry Response Leading to Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Ovarian Cancer”

My focus is epigenetics. Currently, my research is based on investigating a gene called ZNFX1 and its role in mitochondrial signaling, DNA repair, and immunity, as well as its role of being a prognostic factor in ovarian cancer.

1. Abbotts R, Topper M, Biondi C, Fontaine D, Goswami R, Stojanovic L, Choi EY, McLaughlin L, Xia L, Mahmood J, Lapidus RG, Baylin SB, Rassool FV. DNA methyltransferase inhibitors induce a BRCAness phenotype that sensitizes NSCLC to PARP inhibitor and ionizing radiation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116 (45): 22609-22618.
2. Stojanovic, L.* McLaughlin, L.J.*, Kogan, A.A., Rutherford, J.L., Choi, E.Y., Yen, R.W.C., Xia, L., Zou, Y., Lapidus, R.G., Baylin, S.B., Topper, M.J., Rassool, F.V. “Pharmacologic Induction of Innate Immune Signaling Directly Drives Homologous Recombination Deficiency”, *co-first authors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, first published May 26, 2020.
3. Kogan AA, Topper MJ, Dellomo AJ, Stojanovic L, McLaughlin LJ, Creed TM, Eberly CL, Kingsbury TJ, Baer MR, Kessler MD, Baylin SB, Rassool FV. Activating STING1-dependent immune signaling in TP53 mutant and wild-type acute myeloid leukemia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Jul 5;119(27):e2123227119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2123227119. Epub 2022 Jun 27. PMID: 35759659; PMCID: PMC9271208.
4. Stojanovic L*, Abbotts R*, Tripathi, K, Coon CM, Marker R, Guarnieri J, Wallace D, Liu S, Wan J, Topper MJ, Nephew KP, Baylin SB, Rassool FV. ZNFX1 is a master regulator for epigenetic reprogramming of mitochondrial inflammasome signaling and pathogen mimicry in cancer cells. *co-first authors. Cancer Res 2025 Apr 3;85(7):1183-1198. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-24-1286
5. Gohari, Z, Stojanovic, L., and Rassool, FV., Combining STING Agonists with PARP Inhibitors Mounts an NK-Dependent Defense against Therapy-Resistant Breast Cancer, Cancer Res (2025) 85 (10): 1747–1749. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-25-0831