Tamer Fandy, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vermont Campus
Tel: (802) 735-2634
E-mail: tamer.fandy@acphs.edu

Education:

• Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University.
  
  Ph.D., School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Maryland at Baltimore.
  
  M.S., Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Southern California.

Research Interests:

• Epigenetics is defined as any heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve a change in the DNA sequence.The diverse array of epigenetic modifications provides a unique opportunity for identifying new therapeutic targets and developing novel drug entities. Epigenetic therapy has become a reality; DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitors and histone deacteylase (HDAC) inhibitors are considered the backbone of epigenetic therapy in cancer and are currently FDA approved for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, respectively.However, the mechanism behind the clinical efficacy and resistance development of these drugs is not well understood.
  
  Dr. Fandy's research interest focuses on understanding the mechanism of action mediating the clinical efficacy of DNMT inhibitors in MDS and leukemia using animal models. Since the current indirect DNMT inhibitors elicit other clinically relevant biological effects like DNA damage and apoptosis, I am trying to understand the role of these different effects on the efficacy and potency of indirect DNMT inhibitors. Also, the potential of using direct DNMT inhibitors in treating MDS is largely undiscovered; therefore, I am trying to compare the efficacy and potency of direct and indirect DNMT inhibitors in animal models that faithfully recapitulate MDS. Investigating the efficacy of direct DNMT inhibitors in MDS animal models is crucial for the development of new analogues that can specifically target the human epigenome.

Selected Publications and Invited Reviews:

• Tamer E. Fandy, Steven D. Gore. Epigenetic targets in human neoplasms. Epigenomics,  2(2):221-232, 2010.
  
  Maria E. Figueroa, Lucy Skrabanek, Yushan Li, Anchalee Jiemjit, Tamer E. Fandy, Elisabeth Paietta, Hugo Fernandez, Martin S. Tallman, John M. Greally, Hetty Carraway, Jonathan D. Licht, Steven D. Gore, Ari Melnick. MDS and secondary AML display unique patterns and abundance of aberrant DNA methylation. Blood 114(16):3448-58, 2009.
  
  Tamer E. Fandy, James G. Herman, Patrick Kerns, Anchalee Jiemjit, Elizabeth Sugar, Si-Ho Choi, Allen S. Yang, Timothy Aucott, Tianna Dauses, Rosalie Odchimar-Reissig, Jonathan Licht, Melanie J. McConnell, Chris Nasrallah, Marianne K.H. Kim, Weijia Zhang, Yezou Sun, Anthony Murgo, Igor Espinoza-Delgado, Katharine Oteiza, Ibitayo Owoeye, Lewis R. Silverman, Steven D. Gore, Hetty E. Carraway. Early epigenetic changes and DNA damage do not predict clinical response in an overlapping schedule of 5-azacytidine and entinostat in patients with myeloid malignancies. Blood 114(13):2764-73, 2009.
  
  Tamer E. Fandy. Development of DNA methyltransferase inhibitors for the treatment of human neoplasms. Curr Med Chem 16(17): 2075-85, 2009.
  
  Tamer E. Fandy, Sharmila Shankar, Rakesh K Srivastava. Smac/DIABLO enhances the therapeutic potential of chemotherapeutic drugs and irradiation, and sensitizes TRAIL-resistant breast cancer cells. Mol Cancer 30;7:60, 2008. 
  
  Anchalee Jiemjit*, Tamer E Fandy*, Hetty Carraway, Kayleen Bailey, James G Herman, Stephen Baylin, Steven D. Gore. p21^WAF1/CIP1 induction by DNA methyltransferase inhibitors requires DNA damage. Oncogene 27(25):3615-23, 2008. *Both authors contributed equally to the work
  
  Tamer E. Fandy, Hetty Carraway, Steven D. Gore. DNA demethylating agents and HDAC inhibitors in hematologic malignancies. Cancer Journal 13(1):40-8, 2007.
  
  Tamer E. Fandy, Douglass D. Ross, Steven D. Gore, Rakesh K. Srivastava. Flavopiridol synergizes TRAIL cytotoxicity by downregulation of FLIPL. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 60(3):313-9, 2007.
  
  Naoko Takebe, Xiangfei Cheng, Tamer E. Fandy, Rakesh K. Srivastava, Suhlan Wu, Sharmila Shankar, Kenneth Bauer, John Shaughnessy, and Guido Tricot. IMP dehydrogenase inhibitor mycophenolate mofetil induces caspase-dependent apoptosis and cell cycle inhibition in multiple myeloma cells. Mol Cancer Ther 5(2) 2006.
  
  Tamer E. Fandy and Rakesh Srivastava. Trichostatin A sensitizes TRAIL-resistant myeloma cells by downregulation of the antiapoptotic Bcl-2 proteins. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 58(4):471-477, 2006.
  
  Sharmila Shankar, Thiyam R. Singh, Tamer E. Fandy, Thitidaj Luterakul, Douglas D. Ross, Rakesh Srivastava. Interactive effects of histone deacetylase inhibitors and TRAIL on apoptosis in human leukemia cells: involvement of both death receptor and mitochondrial pathways. Int J Mol Med, 16(6):1125-38 (2005).
  
  Tamer E. Fandy, Sharmila Shankar, Sausville E, Douglas D Ross, Rakesh K Srivastava. Interactive effects of histone deacetylase inhibitors and TRAIL on apoptosis are associated with changes in mitochondrial functions and expressions of cell cycle regulatory genes in multiple myeloma. Neoplasia, 7(7):646-57, 2005.
  
  Kwang-Jin Kim*, Tamer E. Fandy*, Vincent H. L. Lee, David K. Ann, Zea Borok, Edward D. Crandall. Net absorption of IgG across primary cultured rat alveolar epithelial cell monolayers. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 287(3): L616-L22, 2004 *Both authors contributed equally to the work
  
  Vincent H. L. Lee, Jennifer L. Sporty, Tamer E. Fandy. Pharmacogenomics of drug transporters: the next drug delivery challenge. Adv. Drug Del. Rev. 50: S33-S40 (2001).

Book Chapters:

• Tamer E. Fandy, Hetty Carraway, Steven D. Gore. Modulating gene expression as a therapeutic approach in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, edited by J. Karp, Humana Press, chapter 13, 273-289, 2007.