Mike A. Cornejo
Chemistry PhD Student, Zeglis Lab
Hunter College - Expected Graduation: 2026
Objective
During my tenure as a graduate student, I will like to understand better the radiopharmaceutical field to develop novel approaches for clinical applications.
Bio
Mike Cornejo is a first generation Latinx graduate student. He got a Bachelor of Science degree from Brooklyn College in 2018. He then worked as a researcher in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for 2 years in Dr. Jason Lewis. At that time, he was able to immerse himself in radioimmunoconjugates and its derivatives. In Fall 2021, he joined Dr. Brian Zeglis's lab, where he prepares prosthetic groups with improved pharmacokinetics that allows a better tumor-to-organ ratio by harnessing the potency of click chemistry, more specifically iEDDA mechanist between Tetrazine and Trans-cyclooctane. Some of the radiometals used in his projects are [131I], [201At], [64Cu]. When not in the lab, he likes to play soccer and follow european soccer matches and news. At the same time, every other weekend he likes to cook different cousins and try new restaurants around the city.
Technical Skills
• Chemistry: NMR spectrometry; HPLC, UPLC and LC-MS; Handling of air-sensitive materials (standard Schlenk and glove-box technique). Basic knowledge on synthetic techniques of organic and inorganic compounds, Radioactive materials handling.
• Cellular and molecular biology: aseptic technique, cell culture, DNA gel electrophoresis, Western blotting, inhibition assays, cell survival assays, confocal microscopy, histology.
• Mouse tumor models: husbandry, tumor inoculation, intravenous/intratumorally/intraperitoneal probe administrations, dissection, organ collection, cardiac puncture.
• Languages: English, Spanish.
Professional Development Skills
• Citation Management – Attended Workshop 11/22
• Career Development - Attended Workshop 12/22
• Science Presentation - Attended Workshop 12/22
Publications
• Feng, Y.; Sarrett, S.; Meshaw, R.; Vaidyanathan, G.; Cornejo, M.; Zeglis, Brian; Zalutsky, M.; ‘Site-Specific Radiohalogenation of a HER2-Targeted Single Domain Antibody Fragment Using a Novel Residualizing Prosthetic Agent’. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Submitted August 2022.
• Pereira, P.; Mandleywala, K.; Monette, S.; Lumish, M.; Tully, K.; Surendra, S.; Cornejo, M.; Mauguen, A.; Ragupathi, A.; Keltee, N.; Mattar, M.; Janjigian, Y.; Lewis, J. S.; ‘Caveolin-1 temporal modulation enhances antibody drug efficacy in heterogeneous gastric cancer’. Nature Communications 2022, 13, 2526.
• Henry, K.; Mack, K.; Nagle, V.; Cornejo, M.; Michel, A.; Fox, I.; Davydova, M.; Dilling, T.; Pillarsetty, N.; and Lewis, J.S. ‘ERK Inhibition Improves Anti-PD-L1 Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Preclinical Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma’. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics 2021. 20, 2026 – 2034.
• Gonzalez, J.; Hernandez-Gil, J.; Wilson, T.; Adilbay, D.; Cornejo, M.; Demetrio, P.; Guru, N.; Schroeder, C.; King, G.; Lewis, J.; Reiner, T. ‘Bimodal Imaging of Mouse Peripheral Nerves with Chlorin Tracers’. Mol. Pharmaceutics. 2021, 18, 3, 940–951.
• Goos, J A.C.M.; Davydova, M.; Dilling, T.; Cho, A.; Cornejo, M. A.; Gupta, A.; Price, W.; Puttick, S.; Whittaker, M.; Quinn, J.; Davis, T.; Lewis, J. S. ‘Design and Preclinical Evaluation of Nanostars for the Passive Pretargeting of Tumor Tissue.’ Nuclear Medicine and Biology 84 – 85, 2020, 63–72.
• Pereira, P.; Edwards, K.; Mandleywala, K.; Carter, L.; Escorcia, F.; Campesato, L,; Cornejo, M. A.; Abma, L.; Mohsen, A.; Iacobuzio-Donahue, C.; Merghoub, T.; Lewis, J. S. ‘iNOS regulate therapeutic response of pancreatic cancer cells to radiation therapy.’ Cancer Research. 2020. 80, 1681-1692
• Elie, B.T.; Fernandez-Gallardo, J.; Curado, N.; Cornejo, M. A.; Ramos, J.W.; Contel, M. ‘Bimetallic titanocene-gold phosphane complexes inhibit invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis-associated signaling molecules in renal cancer.’ Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2019, 161, 310-322.
• Son, J.; Kalafatovic, D.; Kumar, M.; Yoo, B.; Cornejo, M. A.; Contel, M.; Ulijn, R.V. ‘Customizing Morphology, Size, and Response Kinetics of Matrix Metalloproteinase-Responsive Nanostructures by Systematic Peptide Design.’ ACS Nano 2019, 13, 1555-1562.
• Curado, N.; Gimenez, N.; Miachin, K.; Aliaga-Lavrijsen, M.; Cornejo, M. A.; Jarzecki, A.A.; Contel, M. ‘Preparation of Titanocene-Gold Compounds Based on Highly Active Gold(I)-N-Heterocyclic Carbene Anticancer Agents. Preliminary in vitro Studies in Renal and Prostate Cancer Cell lines.’ ChemMedChem 2019, 14, 1086-1095
Conferences
• Gordon Research Poster Conference: Metals in Medicine. June 2018. Proctor Academy, New Hampshire, USA
• ACS Conference Poster Presentation: 65th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. May 2017. Fordham University, NY, USA
• Conference Poster Presentation: Global CUNY Symposium. September 2016. City College of New York, NY, USA
Awards
• Herbert A. Conrad Scholarship
(Department of Chemistry, Brooklyn College); 2017 – 2018
• Irving F. Shaw and Pauline K. Shaw Scholarship
(Department of Chemistry, Brooklyn College); Spring 2017
