Megan Ruhland, Ph.D.

  • Assistant Professor of Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology, School of Medicine
  • Assistant Professor of Dermatology, School of Medicine

Biography

Megan Ruhland, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology, with a secondary appointment in Dermatology, at OHSU School of Medicine. Her work studies the immune system's response to cancer with the goal of re-educating immune cells to fight disease. Specifically, Dr. Ruhland focuses on the ability of antigen-presenting immune cells to stimulate productive anti-tumor T cell responses. Beyond cancer, the Ruhland lab works to better understand how the immune system functions to maintain tissue homeostatsis and how dysfunction can ultimately contribute to disease.

Education and training

  • Degrees

    • B.S., 2009, Creighton University
    • Ph.D., 2015, Washington University in St. Louis

Memberships and associations:

  • American Association for Cancer Research
  • Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer

Areas of interest

  • melanoma
  • dendritic cells
  • innate immunity
  • tumor microenvironment
  • cancer immunotherapy
  • myeloid cells

Honors and awards

  • Cancer Research Institute, Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship

Publications

Selected publications

  • Ruhland, M.K., Roberts, E.W., Cai, E., Mujal, A.M., Marchuk, K., Beppler, C., Nam, D., Serwas, N., Binnewies, M., Krummel, M.F., (2020). Visualizing synaptic transfer of tumor antigens among dendritic cells. Cancer Cell, 37(6):786-799.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2020.05.002.
  • Freedman, T.S., Headley, M.B., Serwas, N., Ruhland, M.K., Castellanos C.A., Combes, A.J., Krummel,. M.F., (2020). Lessons of COVID-19: A roadmap for post-pandemic science. J Exp Med, 217 (9): e20201276. doi:10.1084/jem.20201276
  • Binnewies, M., Mujal, A.M., Pollack, J.L., Combes, A.J., Hardison, E.A., Barry, K.C., Tsui, J., Ruhland, M.K., Kersten, K., Abushawish, M.A., Spasic, M., Giurintano, J.P., Chan, V., Daud, A.I., Ha, P., Ye, C.J., Roberts, E.W., Krummel, M.F. (2019). Unleashing Type-2 Dendritic Cells to Drive Protective Antitumor CD4+ T cell Immunity. Cell. 177(3):556-571.e16. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.02.005
  • Ruhland M.K., Loza, A.J., Capietto, A.H., Luo, X., Knolhoff, B.L., Flanagan, K.C., Belt, B.A., Alspach, E., Leahy, K., Luo, J., Schaffer, A., Edwards, J.R., Longmore, G., Faccio, R., DeNardo, D.G., Stewart S.A., (2016). Stromal senescence establishes an immunosuppressive microenvironment that drives tumorigenesis.  Nature Communications.  7(11762).  doi:10.1038/ncomms11762
  • Ruhland M.K., Coussens, L.M., Stewart, S.A. (2016).  Senescence and cancer: An evolving inflammatory paradox. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1865(1):14-22. doi: 10.1016/j.bbcan.2015.10.001
  • Luo, X., Fu, Y., Loza, A.J., Murali, B., Leahy, K., Ruhland, M.K., Gang, M., Su, X., Zamani, A., Shi, Y., Lavine, K., Ornitz, D.M., Weilbaecher, K.N., Long, F., Novack, D.V., Faccio, R., Longmore, G., Stewart, S.A. (2016). Stromal-initiated changes in the bone promote metastatic niche development. Cell Reports. 14(1):82-92. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2015.12.016
  • Alspach, E., Flanagan K.C., Luo X., Ruhland M.K., Huang H., Pazolli E., Donlin M.J., Marsh T., Piwnica-Worms D., Monahan J., Novack D.V., McAllister S.S., Stewart S.A. (2014). p38MAPK plays a crucial role in stromal mediated tumorigenesis. Cancer Discovery. 4(6):716-29. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-13-0743
  • Luo, X., Ruhland, M.K., Pazolli, E., Lind, A.C., Stewart, S.A. (2011).  Osteopontin stimulates preneoplastic cellular proliferation through activation of the MAPK pathway. Molecular Cancer Research. 9(8):1018-1029. doi: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-10-0472

Publications