Ph.D, University of Melbourne, 1998
B.Sc, (Honors), University of Melbourne, 1995
B.Sc., Biological Sciences, LaTrobe University, 1994

2023 Women in Medicine and Science (WIMS) Torchbearer Award
2023 BIO5 Rapid Grant
2020 Sparking bench-to-bedside Team Science Award, University of Arizona Cancer Center
2018 Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Grant Award, University of Cincinnati
2017 Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Grant Award, University of Cincinnati
2014 Nominated for Mrs. A.B. Dolly Cohen Award for Excellence in Teaching, University of Cincinnati
2013 Dean’s Award for Outstanding Mentorship, University of Cincinnati
2012 Robert and Sally Funderburg Research Award in Gastric Cancer, American Gastrological Association
2011 “Hedgehog signaling mediates the proliferation and recruitment of spontaneously transformed bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells during the development of gastric cancer”, Abstract submitted to Digestive Diseases Week, Chicago, Distinguished Abstract Plenary
2010 Akeson Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, University of Cincinnati
2010 Nominated candidate for the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigators in Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease, University of Cincinnati
2010 “Restoration of Sonic Hedgehog in the Adult Stomach Results in the Recovery of the Gastric Epithelium to the Normal Differentiated State,” Abstract submitted to Digestive Disease Week, New Orleans, Distinguished Abstract Plenary
2010 University of Cincinnati Dean’s List
2010 American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award
2009 Akeson Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, University of Cincinnati (nominee)
2009 Daniel L. Kline Faculty Award for Excellence in Mentoring, Teaching and Service, University of Cincinnati, Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology
2008 Poster of Distinction, Abstract submitted to Digestive Disease Week (AGA), San Diego, CA
2006 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), University of Melbourne, Australia, RD Wright Biomedical Career Development Award
2006 Experimental Biology Meeting, San Francisco, APS Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology Section Awards, Research Recognition Award
2004 University of Michigan, Department of Internal Medicine Research Symposium Award
2001 Gastrointestinal Response to Injury, Montebello Canada. Travel Scholarship
1999 Third Conference on Gastrin, Tucson, Arizona, USA. Travel Scholarship.
1999 10th International Workshop on CHRO, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Young Investigator Award
1999 AstraZeneca/Gastroenterological Society of Australia, Grant-in-Aid for Overseas Study

See full list on PubMed

CURRENT RESEARCH SUPPORT

Title of project: Organoid/Immune Cell Co-Cultures as Predictive Models for the Treatment of Pancreatic
Ductal Adenocarcinoma
Role: Zavros (PI)
Merck Investigator Studies Program
Funding period: 03/01/2021 – 03/31/2025 (NCE)
Total Direct Costs: $994,775.79 (20%)

Funding agency: NIH/NIDDK
Grant Number: 1 R01 DK133325-01 (MPI: Zavros and Little)
Title of project: Development and Standardization of a Novel Pituitary Adenoma Organoid Model
for the Study and Treatment of Cushing’s Disease.
Funding period: 01/04/2023 – 12/30-2026
Total Costs: $1,319,322 (15% effort)
Goals of the project: Expeditious diagnosis and effective treatment are essential for the positive long-term outcomes for patients with Cushing’s Disease (CD). Effective treatment of recurrence of disease remains a challenging task for endocrinologists and neurosurgeons. The proposed research
will potentially allow us to identify novel therapeutic approaches to effectively treat ACTH-secreting pituitary adenomas in patients with CD.

NIH/NIDDK (Pending Review)
Title: Advancing Targeted Therapies for Cushing’s Disease Using Pituitary Neuroendocrine
Tumor Organoids
Major Goals: Take a noncommittal research approach to define the molecular signatures of corticotroph tumor subtypes in CD, and 2) To use the PitNET organoids as a preclinical model to accelerate targeted therapies for patients with CD. The objectives will be successfully achieved by collaborative efforts between the University of Arizona (UA), Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI), Iowa State University (ISU) that will leverage the expertise of professionals trained in complimentary fields including surgical treatments, pathology and cell biology of pituitary disease, organoid technology, canine preclinical models and high throughput data analysis including dug screening, molecular profiling, and transcriptomics.
Project Number: R01DK138306
Name of PD/PI: Zavros, Y.
Primary Place of Performance: University of Arizona
Project/Proposal Start and End Date: (MM/YYYY) (if available): 09/2023-08/2028
Total Award Amount (including Indirect Costs): $3,971,261
Person Months (Calendar/Academic/Summer) per budget period – 1.56 calendar months

Phase II Trial Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of Atezolizumab in Combination with
Cabozantinib for the Treatment of Metastatic, Refractory Pancreatic Cancer
Exelixis Pharmaceuticals, Incorporated
Role: Basic science lead
$243,249

NIH/NIDDK R01
PARP1 and PARylation as Novel Effectors of Gut Inflammation
Major Goals: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are complex, multifactorial disorders characterized by impaired host- microbiome interactions that lead to chronic and relapsing intestinal inflammation with incompletely understood etiology For the first time, we demonstrate that poly-ADP-ribosylation (PARylation), a post-translational protein modification known to profoundly affect cellular functions in other systems, plays active role in the gut epithelial cell biology, host-microbiome interactions, and mucosal inflammatory responses. We seek to determine the interplay between commensal microbiota and mucosal PARylation, work that may lead to novel approaches to IBD care.
Project Number: R01DK136240
Name of PD/PI: Kiela, P.
Project/Proposal Start and End Date: (MM/YYYY) (if available): 06/2023 – 03/2027
Total Award Amount (including Indirect Costs): $2,483,661.00
CO-I: Zavros (0.96 calendar months)

Targeting cyclin/CDK Activity in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma and Gastric Cancer
Circle Pharma
Role PI
Funding Period: 01/12/2022 – 01/12/2024
$151,602

Development and Standardization of a Novel Pituitary Adenoma Organoid Model for the Study
and Treatment of Cushing’s Disease
2022 Core Facilities Pilot Program
$9,870

2023 BIO5 RAPID Grant
Human Model of Pituitary/Colon-On-A-Chip for Study of Hypophysitis Associated with Immune
Checkpoint Blockade in Colorectal Cancer
MPI: Zavros and Jiang
$50,000

Title of project: University of Arizona Cancer Center – Cancer Center Support Grant
P30CA023074 (PI: Merchant), NIH/NCI
Funding period: 07/14/2017 – 06/30/2028
Total Direct Costs: $2,277,437
This is the overall Arizona Cancer Center Support Grant. Its four major research areas fall into the following organized scientific programs: Cancer Biology, Cancer Imaging, Therapeutic Development, and Cancer Prevention and Control. UACC has a research focus on skin cancer and arsenic exposure, as well as the cancer health needs of Hispanics and Native Americans, the elderly, and the economically disadvantaged.
Role: Director, Tissue Acquisition & Cellular/Molecular Analysis Shared Resource Core (Zavros)

PENDING RESEARCH SUPPORT

NIH/NIDDK (submitted JIT and budget, pending NOA) – High Impact Score 32, pending council
review for recommendation of funding.
RC2 (High Impact, Interdisciplinary Science in NIDDK Research Areas)
The National Biorepository and Resource for Pituitary Neuroendocrine Tumor Translational
Research (BioPitNeT)
Name of PD/PI: Zavros, Y.
Primary Place of Performance: University of Arizona (7 participating institutions)
Project/Proposal Start and End Date: (MM/YYYY) (if available): 07/2024 – 07/2029
Total Award Amount (including Indirect Costs): $ 14,120,894

United States Department of Defense (To be resubmitted)
The Development of Human and Canine-Induced Pluripotent Stem Generated Organoids as Research
Models for Rare Pituitary Neuroendocrine Tumors
Name of PD/PI: Zavros, Y.
$930,795

National Institutes of Health // FAKnostics, LLC (Pending NOA)
Development of Novel FAK-paxillin Inhibitors for the Treatment of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma
Name of site PD/PI: Zavros, Y.
$120,000

NIH R01 (resubmitted March 2024)
Targeting CD44 variant 9 and the cystine transporter SLC7A11/xCT to Radiosensitize Pituitary Neuroendocrine
Tumors
MPI: Zavros and Little
$3,947,601.00

NIH/NIDDK (resubmitted March 2024)
Title: Advancing Targeted Therapies for Cushing’s Disease Using Pituitary Neuroendocrine
Tumor Organoids
Major Goals: Take a noncommittal research approach to define the molecular signatures of corticotroph tumor subtypes in CD, and 2) To use the PitNET organoids as a preclinical model to accelerate targeted therapies for patients with CD. The objectives will be successfully achieved by collaborative efforts between the University of Arizona (UA), Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI), Iowa State University (ISU) that will leverage the expertise of professionals trained in complimentary fields including surgical treatments, pathology and cell biology of pituitary disease, organoid technology, canine preclinical models and high throughput data analysis including dug screening, molecular profiling, and transcriptomics.
Project Number: R01DK138306
Name of PD/PI: Zavros, Y.
Primary Place of Performance: University of Arizona
Project/Proposal Start and End Date: (MM/YYYY) (if available): 09/2023-08/2028
Total Award Amount (including Indirect Costs): $3,971,261
Person Months (Calendar/Academic/Summer) per budget period – 1.56 calendar months

NIH/NCI R01 (to be submitted September 2024)
Title: Reprogramming the Pancreatic Tumor Microenvironment to Increase Efficacy of Targeted
Therapies
Major Goals: The proposed research has relevance to public health because Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal malignancies with an approximate 8% 5-year survival rate despite therapy. The lack of an effective response of PDAC to various existing treatments contributes to poor prognosis, and makes this disease an unmet medical challenge. The proposed studies will use patient-derived advanced preclinical models of PDAC and combinatorial therapeutic strategies to increase the efficacy of treatment for each individual patient that will subsequently improve survival and outcome.
Project Number: R01CA289591
Name of PD/PI: Zavros, Y.
Primary Place of Performance: University of Arizona
Project/Proposal Start and End Date: (MM/YYYY) (if available): 04/2024 – 03/2029
Total Award Amount (including Indirect Costs): $3,138,780.00

COMPLETED RESEARCH SUPPORT

Title of project: Understanding the Tumor Microenvironment for the Early Detection and Treatment
of GI Cancers
Role: Zavros (PI)
Sparking bench-to-bedside Team Science Award, University of Arizona Cancer Center
Funding period: 09/01/2020 – 09/31/2022
Total Direct Costs: $250,000

Funding agency: NIH
Grant Number: 2 R01 DK083402-06A1 (PI: Zavros)
Title of project: The role of Hedgehog Signaling in gastric tissue repair and regeneration
Funding period: 07/01/2016 – 04/30-2021 (NCE)
Total Direct Costs: $2,385,068 (30% effort)
Goals of the project: The objectives of this proposal are to 1) develop an understanding for the process of gastric regeneration, and to then 2) identify the mechanism by which the basic aging process of the stomach leads to an epithelium incapable of repair in response to injury.

Funding agency: NIH
Grant Number: 1U19AI116491-01, (Weiss and Wells PI, Zavros Project 1 PI)
Title of project: Organoids as a model system for studying gastrointestinal disease
Funding period: 05/01/2015 – 04/30/2021 (NCE)
Total Direct Costs: $1,483,920 (10% effort)
Goals of the project: The objective of this proposal is to identify the underlying mechanism by which H. pylori-host interactions trigger the disruption of epithelial cell differentiation using three-dimensional human gastric organoids generated through the directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells. We hypothesize that H. pylori primarily triggers hyperproliferation of the stem cell compartment in both the fundus and antrum leading to aberrant epithelial cell differentiation. Moreover, we hypothesize that differences in fundic pathology triggered by H. pylori are due to differences in target cell activation in the fundus versus antrum.

Funding agency: Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Grant, University of Cincinnati (PI: Zavros)
Title of project: Organoid-Based Preclinical Models of Pancreatic Cancer
Funding period: 09/01/2017 – 08/31/2019
Total Direct Costs: $110,000
Goals of the project: The objectives of this proposal are to develop patient-derived organoid models of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) to identify the mechanisms by which pancreatic cancer stem cells act as regulatory cells within the tumor microenvironment. The acquisition of such
knowledge is the first step required to achieve our long-term goal that is to better understand the development and maintenance of PDAC to develop an organoid-based platform for personalized medicine.

Funding agency: NIH
Project Number: 1 R01 DK083402-01, Zavros (PI)
Title of project: The role of Hedgehog Signaling in gastric tissue homeostasis and Disease
Funding period: 12/01/2010 – 11/30/2015
Total direct costs: $2,500,000 (50% effort)
Goals of the project: The major goal of this application is to identify the role of the Hedgehog signaling
pathway as a regulator of normal gastric epithelial cell differentiation, function and the development of gastric inflammation in response to Helicobacter pylori infection. We hypothesize that loss of Shh within the acid-secreting glands results in the disruption of gastric epithelial cell differentiation via activation of the Wnt signaling pathway.

Funding agency: NIH
Grant Number: 2T32GM105526-04 (Zavros co-PI and Meller co-PI)
Title of project: Advanced Multidisciplinary Training Program for Systems Biology
Funding period: 07/01/2013 – 06/30/2016
Total direct costs: $2,500,000
Goals of the project: The proposed Advanced Multidisciplinary Training Program for Systems Biology is designed to prime researchers to tackle complex mechanisms of human disease using cross-disciplinary approaches. Our goal is to award graduate student training slots to those students who fulfill
criteria that include dual mentorship by faculty working in different disciplines, and working in interdisciplinary teams to promote multidisciplinary learning. The objectives will be achieved by implementation of a training plan that incorporates the following features: 1) didactic and experiential training in interdisciplinary research concepts and approaches, 2) a student-centered and flexible curriculum custom tailored to meet the needs of each student via computational and biology elective courses, 3) a research project that will require the student to use interdisciplinary approaches under the mentorship of a multi-disciplinary set of faculty co-mentors, and 4) students engaged in a community that encourages interaction between students and mentors through seminars, data and journal clubs, and an annual retreat.

Funding agency: American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award
Grant number: RSG-10-167-01-MPC, Zavros (PI)
Title: Role of Hedgehog signaling in the development of gastric cancer
Funding period: 07/01/2010 – 06/31/2014
Total direct costs: $750,000 (30% effort)
Goals of the project: The goals of the project are to identify the mechanisms by which Shh expression and secretion drive cancer development. We hypothesize that during chronic inflammation Shh provides a continuous stimulus for the proliferation and engraftment of cancer-promoting cells and subsequently tumor growth.

Funding agency: NIH
Project Number: R01 DK54940 (Montrose PI, Zavros Co-I)
Title of project: Pathways and pathogens affecting gastric epithelial repair in vivo
Total direct costs: $253,000 direct/year (10% effort)
Funding period: 9/1/2011 – 8/31/2014

Funding agency: Digestive Health Center Pilot Feasibility Grant, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical
Center
Grant number: P30 DK078392, Zavros (PI)
Title: Role of inflammation and sonic hedgehog in the development of gastric cancer
Funding period: 06/01/2008 – 05/31/2009
Total direct costs: $25,000/year
Goals of project: The goals of the project are to first understand the role of sonic hedgehog in the maintenance of gastric epithelial cell differentiation, in particular the acid-secreting parietal cell. Second to determine the mechanism by which gastric inflammation, due to Helicobacter pylori infection results in disruption of sonic hedgehog expression and processing within the parietal cell. This mechanism is of significance to determining the role of inflammation as a trigger for parietal cell atrophy and the development of gastric cancer.

Funding agency: American Gastrological Association
Grant number: AGA Institute Consortium Planning Grant
Title: Imaging the influx and engraftment of mesenchymal stem cells in the inflamed gastric mucosa
Funding Period: 01/01/2008-04/30/2008
Total direct costs: $15,000
Goals of project: Generate sufficient preliminary data for an NIH grant application to study mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) homing and engraftment to the gastric mucosa, in a new model with unique advantages. The consortium planning project will use the combined talents and resources available at 4
independent laboratories to prove the feasibility and utility of our approach for visualization and documentation of MSC in vivo within the gastric mucosa. Our specific goals are: 1) Implement an improved model system to allow us to accelerate stem cell homing and engraftment, and track these events in real time in living tissue, 2) Test the hypothesis that Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) regulates gastric mucosal cell differentiation and development from MSC cells and 3) Identify immune mediators that impact MSC homing to the gastric mucosa.
Dr. JeanMarie Houghton (Principal Investigator, Lead Investigator), University of Massachusetts Medical
School, Dr. Yana Zavros (Co-Investigator), Dr. Marshall H. Montrose (Co-Investigator), Dr. Susan
E. Erdman (Co-Investigator)

Funding agency: Michigan Gastrointestinal Peptide Research Center Pilot Feasibility Project Grant
Grant number: DK34933, Zavros (PI)
Title: Hypergatrinemia during inflammation of the gastric mucosa
Funding Period: 09/01/03-08/31/04
Total direct costs: $25,000
Goals of project: Hypergastrinemia, induced by inflammation, results in decreased D-cell numbers and somatostatin expression. The focus of this grant was to investigate the role of histamine 3 receptors in this inhibitory mechanism of gastrin on somatostatin during inflammation. The grant also studied the role of histamine 3 receptors in mediating Helicobacter-suppressed gastric acid secretion.

Funding agency: Michigan Gastrointestinal Peptide Research Center Pilot Feasibility Project Grant
Grant number: DK34933, Zavros (PI)
Title: Hypergatrinemia during inflammation of the gastric mucosa
Funding Period: 09/01/04-08/31/05
Total direct costs: $25,000
Title: Interferon gamma and the regulation of gastrin expression
Goals of project: This grant investigated the effect of inflammatory cytokines, in particular interferon gamma, on gastrin and somatostatin expression. The overall impact on acid secretion with respect to these regulatory peptide changes was also studied.

Organoid technology
Cancer biology
Cushing’s disease
Gastric cancer
Pancreatic cancer