Eva Schmelz, MS, PhD

Program Focus

Ovarian cancer is usually detected late when the cancer has already spread throughout the peritoneal cavity. We are interested how ovarian cancer cells survive in the peritoneal cavity after exfoliation from the tumor. We are focusing on the adaptation of mitochondrial dynamics and functions to aggregation, hypoxia and low nutrient levels as the cancer cells would experience during metastasis. This will allow us to identify critical events that when inhibited could reduce secondary outgrowth of the metastases. We are also collecting human cancer tissues to confirm the relevance of our results in the human disease and investigate how abdominal obesity contributes to the cancer cell survival and progression of ovarian cancer.

Reviewed Journals

• Grieco, J.P., Compton, S.L.E., Bano, N., Brookover, L., Nichenko, A., J.W., Drake, J., Schmelz, E.M., (2023) Mitochondrial plasticity supports proliferative outgrowth and invasion of ovarian cancer spheroids during adhesion. Frontiers Oncology 12:1043670. Special Selection: “365 days of progress in cancer metabolism.“ doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.1043670.
• Compton, S.L.E., Grieco, J.P., Gollamudi, B., Bae, E., Van Mullekom, J.H., Schmelz, E.M. (2022) Metabolic reprogramming of ovarian cancer spheroids during adhesion. Cancers 14: 1399-1421. doi: 10.3390/cancers14061399
• Mukherjee, A., Zhang, H., Ladner, K., Brown, M., Urbanski, J., Grieco, J.P., Kapania, R.K., Lou, E., Behkam, B., Schmelz, E.M.*, Nain, A., (2022) Quantitative biophysical metrics for rapid evaluation of ovarian cancer progression. Molecular Biology of the Cell 33(6):ar55. *co-corresponding author. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E21-08-0419
• Compton, S.E., Pyne, E.S., Liu, L., Guinan, J.H., Shea, A.A., Grieco, J.P., Frisard, M.I., Schmelz, E.M. (2021) Adaptation of metabolism to multicellular aggregation, hypoxia and obese stromal cell incorporation as potential measure of survival of ovarian metastases. Exp. Cell Res. 399: 112397. doi: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2020.112397
• Le, P.T., Ha, N., Tran, N.G., Newman, A.G., Esselen, K.M., Dalrymple, J.L., Schmelz, E.M., Bhandoola, A., Xue, H., Singh, P.B., Thai, T.-H. (2021)  Targeting Cbx3/HP1g induces LEF-1 and IL-21R to promote tumor-infiltrating CD8 T-cell persistence. Frontiers Immunology 12: 738958. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.738958
• Hyler, A.R., Hong, D., Davalos, R.V., Swami, N., Schmelz, E.M. (2021) A novel ultra-low conductivity electro-manipulation buffer improves cell viability and enhances dielectrophoretic consistency. Electrophoresis 42:1366-1377. doi: 10.1002/elps.202000324
• Liu, H., Zhao, Y., Yao, C., Schmelz, E.M.*, Davalos, R.V. (2021) Differential effects of nanosecond pulsed electric fields on cells representing progressive ovarian cancer. Bioelectrochemistry 142, 107942. *co-corresponding author. doi: 10.1016/j.bioelechem.2021.107942
• Grieco, J.P., Allen, M., Perry, J., Wang, Y., Song, Y., Rohani, A., Compton, S.L.E, Smyth, J.W, Swami, N., Brown, D., Schmelz, E.M. (2021) Progression-mediated changes in mitochondrial morphology promotes adaptation to hypoxic peritoneal conditions in serous ovarian cancer. Frontiers Oncology 10: 600113. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2020.600113
• Hyler, A.R., N. Boudoin, Brown, M., Stremler, M., Cimini, D., Davalos, R.V, Schmelz, E.M. (2018) Fluid shear stress impacts ovarian cancer cell viability and organization and induces malignant phenotypes. PlosOne 13: e0194170. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194170

Full list of publications

Oral Presentations

• Schmelz, E.M. Role of mitochondrial plasticity in ovarian cancer metastasis. Presented at the Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center SBT Annual retreat, Chateau Morrisette, Meadows of Dan, Virginia, November 14, 2022.
• Hyler, A.R., Hong, D., Davalos, R.V., Swami, N.S., Schmelz, E.M. (2021) Optimized electromanipulation buffer for enhanced cell viability and dielectrophoretic consistency. Selected for oral presentation. Presented at the Annual Dielectrophoresis Conference, Flagstaff, AZ, July 26-28, 2021.
• Schmelz, E.M. Peritoneal metastasis: effect of aggregation. Presentation at the LS1 research meeting, October 29, 2020.
• Schmelz, E.M. What is new in the field of cancer. Presentation to the Blacksburg Kiwanis group, August 1, 2019.
• Schmelz, E.M. Fluid shear stress and its impact on ovarian cancer metastasis and progression. Presented at the Virginia Nanomedicine Symposium, Virginia Tech, Roanoke, VA, April 26, 2018

Poster Presentations

• Hyler, A.R., Barua, R., Degen, K., Thomas, D., Davalos, R.V., Schmelz, E.M. Feasibility studies on the Cyto R1 platform for tumor-associated cell sorting.  Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Cell Biology, Washington, D.C., December 7-11, 2022
• Hyler, A.R., Cole, A.M., Barua, R., Dzutsev, A.K., Schmelz, E.M. Cyto R1 platform enriches samples’ viability for single-cell sequencing and downstream assays. Presented at the annual AACR meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 8-13, 2022.
• Compton, S.E., Grieco, J., Davis, G., and Schmelz, E.M. (2021) Metabolic plasticity of ovarian metastases in response to adherence and physiologically relevant culture conditions. Presented at the annual AACR meeting, April 2021.
• Grieco, J., Edwards, S., Allen, M., Wang, Y., Song, Y., Swami, N., Brown, D., Schmelz, E.M.  (2021) Dysregulated Metastatic Capacity of Ovarian Cancer Spheroids in Response to Physiologically Relevant Media Conditions. Presented at the annual AACR meeting, April 2021.
• Mukherjee, A., Brown, M., Urbanski, J., Behkam, B., Nain, A.S., Schmelz, E.M. (2020) Towards development of biophysical markers for predicting ovarian cancer progression. Presented at the Cell Bio virtual/ASMB-EMBO 2020 meeting, December 2020.
• Mukherjee, A., Brown, M., Behkam, B., Nain, A.S., Schmelz, E.M. (2020) Biophysical Hallmarks in Ovarian Cancer Progression. Presented at the BMES  Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA,  October 14-17, 2020.
• Hyler, A.R., Davalos, R.V., Swami, N., Schmelz, E.M. Separation of cells via dielectrophoresis: impact of assay conditions on cell viability. Presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cell Biology, Washington, D.C., December 7-11, 2019.
• Grieco, J., Edwards, S., Allen, M., Wang, Y., Song, Y., Swami, N., Brown, D., Schmelz, E.M.  Mitochondrial morphology and dynamic function in serous ovarian cancer. Presented at the annual AACR meeting, Atlanta, GA March 29-April 3, 2019.
• Compton, S.E., Pyne, E.S., Liu, L., Guinan, J., Frisard, M.I., and Schmelz, E.M. Cellular metabolism is altered in spheroids. Presented at the annual AACR meeting, Atlanta, GA, March 29-April 3, 2019.