profile picture

Billy
Tomaszewski

Immunology PhD

Research Interests

  • Immunotherapy
  • Tumor Microenvironment
  • Systems Biology
  • Neuroimmunology
  • Neurodegenerative Disease

Languages

  • English (Native)
  • Spanish (Basic)
  • German (Basic)

Other

  • Traveling
  • Hiking
  • Baking

About

Immunologist with a focus in unravelling the immune contribution to solid tumor progression by leveraging the advances in systems biology and translating these insights into therapeutics. Currently a Scientist III in the lab of Dr. Baptiste Jaeger at Genentech. Completed PhD training in the labs of Prof. John Sampson and Prof. Michael Gunn at Duke University (Durham, NC). 13 years of cross-disciplinary experience in the field of immunology has given me a unique perspective on the complex nature of the field.

Education

PhD in Immunology

Aug 2016 - Jul 2022
Duke University (Durham, NC)

Thesis Title: Stromal CaMKK2 promotes immunosuppression and checkpoint blockade resistance in Glioblastoma
Co-Mentors: Dr. John Sampson and Dr. Michael Dee Gunn

BSE in Biomedical Engineering, Drug Delivery Track

Aug 2012 - May 2016
Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH)

Minors: Business Management and Polymer Engineering

Professional Experience

Scientist III

Oct 2022 - present
Genentech /
Department of Research Oncology (South San Francisco, CA)

Managers: Dr. Baptiste Jaeger and Dr. Weilan Ye
Project: T cell engager therapy design

PhD Candidate

Aug 2016 - present
Duke Immunology Department /
Duke Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program (Durham, NC)

Advisors: Prof. John Sampson and Prof. Michael Dee Gunn
Project: Stromal CaMKK2 promotes immunosuppression and checkpoint blockade resistance in Glioblastoma

Data Analysis for Genomics Certificate

July 2020 - Dec. 2020
HarvardX

Advisors: Prof. Rafael Irizarry
Project: Series of online courses that taught how to utilize open source software to structure analyze and interpret genome scale data

Data Science Certificate

April 2020 - June 2020
HarvardX

Advisor - Prof. Rafael Irizarry
Series of online courses that culminated in a Capstone Project where Machine Learning was used to identify community risk factors for early COVID outbreaks in the USA
Capstone Project

Preclinical Safety Assessment Intern

June 2019 - Aug. 2019
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Boston, MA)

Project: Development of High Throughput Electrophysiology Screening for hi-PSC Neurons

Undergraduate Research Assistant

June 2015 - Jan 2016
Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH)

Advisor: Prof. Alex Huang
Project: CDK5 Loss Attenuates PD-L1 Expression in Medulloblastoma

Research and Development Intern

Oct. 2014 - June 2015
NovelMed Therapeutics (Cleveland, OH)

Project: Immunotherapy Drug Development to Target the Alternative Complement Pathway in Orphan Diseases

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Oct. 2012 - June 2015
Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH)

Advisor: Prof. Jeffrey Capadona
Project: Investigating the Role of Neuroinflammation in Brain Machine Interfacing

Peer-reviewed Publications

Restriction of innate Tγδ17 cell plasticity by an AP-1 regulatory axis - Parker ME, Meta NU, Liao T-C, Tomaszewski WH, Snyder SA, Busch J, Ciofani M

Nature Immunology. 2025 June. doi: 10.1038/s41590-025-02206-7

Antigen presentation by tumor-associated macrophages drives T cells from a progenitor exhaustion state to terminal exhaustion - Waibl-Polania J, Hoyt-Miggelbrink A, Tomaszewski WH, Wachsmuth LP, Lorrey SJ, Wilkinson DS, Lerner E, Woroniecka K, Finlay JB, Ayasoufi K, Fecci PE

Immunity. 2024 December. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2024.11.026

CD8+ T cells maintain killing of MHC-I-negative tumor cells through the NKG2D–NKG2DL axis - Lerner EC, Woroniecka KI, D'Anniballe VM, Wilkinson DS, Mohan AA, Lorrey SJ, Waibl-Polania J, Wachsmuth LP, Miggelbrink AM, Jackson JD, Cui X, Raj JA, Tomaszewski WH, Cook SL, Sampson JH, Patel AP, Khasraw M, Gunn MD, Fecci PE

Nature Cancer. 2023 August. doi: 10.1038/s43018-023-00600-4

Neuronal CaMKK2 promotes immunosuppression and checkpoint blockade resistance in glioblastoma - Tomaszewski WH, Waibl-Polania J, Chakrabortya M, Perera J, Ratiu J, Miggelbrink A, McDonnell DP, Khasraw M, Ashley DM, Fecci PE, Racioppi L, Sanchez-Perez L, Gunn MD, Sampson JH

Nature Communications. 2022 October. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34175-y

Glioma progression is shaped by genetic evolution and microenvironmental interactions - The GLASS Consortium (contributor)

Cell. 2022 June. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.04.038

Broad immunophenotyping of the murine brain tumor microenvironment - Tomaszewski WH, Waibl-Polania J, Miggelbrink AM, Chakrabortya MA, Fecci PE, Sampson JH, Gunn MD

Journal of Immunological Methods. 2021 September. doi: 10.1016/j.jim.2021.113158

Targeting Immunometabolism in Glioblastoma - Mohan AA, Tomaszewski WH, Haskell-Mendoza AP, Hotchkiss KM, Singh K, Reedy JL, Fecci PE, Sampson JH, Khasraw M

Frontiers in Oncology. 2021 June. doi:10.3389/fonc.2021.696402

Brain Tumor Microenvironment and Host State Implications for Immunotherapy - Tomaszewski WH, Sanchez-Perez L, Gajewski TF, Sampson JH

Clinical Cancer Research. 2019 July. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-18-1627

The Role of Toll-Like Receptor 2 and 4 Innate Immunity Pathways in Intracortical Microelectrode Induced Neuroinflammation - Hermann JK, Lin S, Soffer A, Wong C, Srivastava V, Chang J, Sunil S, Sudhakar S, Tomaszewski WH, Protasiewicz G, Selkirk SM, Miller RH, Capadona JR

Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. 2018 August. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2018.00113

Implications of chronic daily anti oxidant administration on the inflammatory response to intracortical microelectrodes - Potter-Baker KA, Stewart WG, Tomaszewski WH, Wong CT, Meador WD, Ziats NP, Capadona JR

Journal of Neural Engineering. 2015. doi: 10.1088/1741-2560/12/4/046002

A comparison of neuroinflammation to implanted microelectrodes in rat and mouse models - Potter-Baker KA, Ravikumar M, Burke AA, Meador WD, Householder KT, Buck AC, Sunil S, Stewart WG, Anna JP, Tomaszewski WH, Capadona JR

Biomaterials. 2014. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2014.03.076

The effect of residual endotoxin contamination on the neuroinflammatory response to sterilized intracortical microelectrodes - Ravikumar M, Hageman DJ, Tomaszewski WH, Chandra GM, Skousen JL, Capadona JR

Journal of Materials Chemistry B. 2014. doi: 10.1039/c3tb21453b

Skills and Techniques

Experimental - Flow cytometry (15-color), ELISA development, Immunohistochemistry, Fluorescence microscopy, Chromogenic assays, Transwell migration assay, PCR, qRT-PCR, Proliferation assay, Neuron and Astrocyte hiPSC culture systems, Cerebral Organoid systems, in-vitro Electrophysiology, Pipetting Automation, Liquid Handling, AAV and Lentivirus Expression Systems, Animal handling (rodents), Tumorigenicity, Transcardial Perfusion, Adoptive Transfer, Bone Marrow Chimera Generation, Stereotactic Intracranial Injection, Biodistribution assays, Bioluminescence for Tumor Progression

Computational - FlowJo, Autodesk, Graphpad PRISM, MATLAB, Imaris, FIJI, Inkscape, Endnote, Machine Learning - R, Data Visualization – R, Linear Regression – R, Data Wrangling – R, Statistical Probability and Inference - R, RNA-seq Alignment - STAR, Cluster Computing, Differential Expression, Pathway Analysis, scRNAseq Alignment - CellRanger, Seurat, Signac

Honours and Awards

Best Graduate Student Talk at Duke Glia Camp - Runner Up, Duke University

2021

Paul and Lauren Ghaffari Fellowship, Duke University

2019

Chancellor's Scholar, Duke University

2016

Excellence in Academic Research, Case Western Reserve University

2016

Alumni Leadership Scholarship, Case Western Resere University

2014

BMES Travel Award, Biomedical Engineering Society

2013,2014

SOURCE Travel Grant, Case Western Reserve University

2013,2014

Provost Summer Undergraduate Research Grant, Case Western Reserve University

2013

Men of Principle Scholarship, Case Western Reserve University

2012

University Provost Scholarship, Case Western Reserve University

2012