Research

Welcome to the Róża&Piotr (RP) Lab at Loyola University Chicago. We study how long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) drive heterogeneity in ER+ breast cancer through their structure and function, and how transient oncogenes and premalignant microenvironments govern the earliest steps of malignant transformation. Our translational research integrates primary patient-derived organoids, mouse models, molecular approaches, and computational biology to connect fundamental discoveries in RNA biology and cancer genetics to novel therapeutic and diagnostic strategies.

Highlighted

Patient-derived response estimates from zero-passage organoids of luminal breast cancer

Róża K. Przanowska, Najwa Labban, Piotr Przanowski, Russell B. Hawes, Kristen A. Atkins, Shayna L. Showalter, Kevin A. Janes

Breast Cancer Research  ·  31 Dec 2024  ·  doi:10.1186/s13058-024-01931-5

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2026

IL-6R blockade with tocilizumab disrupts pericyte-and tumor cell-driven IL-6/STAT3 signaling, enhancing docetaxel efficacy in ER+ breast cancer

Roza Kamila Przanowska, Jacky Gomez-Villa, Victoria J. Liu, Natalia Antonides-Jensen, Lavanya Visvabharathy, John C. Alverdy, Sonia L. Hernandez, Samantha S. Yee

openRxiv  ·  30 Jan 2026  ·  doi:10.64898/2026.01.29.702661

2025

Fast, flexible, learning-free organoid quantification and tracking with OrganoSeg2

Cameron J. Wells, Najwa Labban, Shayna L. Showalter, Roza K. Przanowska, Kevin Janes

openRxiv  ·  16 Aug 2025  ·  doi:10.1101/2025.08.13.669694

A 36-base hairpin within lncRNA DRAIC, which is modulated by alternative splicing, interacts with the IKKα coiled-coil domain and inhibits NF-κB and tumor cell phenotypes

Xiaoxiao Hao, Yuechuan Chen, Divya Sahu, Róża K. Przanowska, Mujawar Aaiyas, Chase A. Weidmann, Isaac Nardi, Kevin M. Weeks, Anindya Dutta

Journal of Biological Chemistry  ·  01 Jun 2025  ·  doi:10.1016/j.jbc.2025.110172

DNA replication in primary hepatocytes without the six-subunit ORC

Róża K Przanowska, Yuechuan Chen, Takayuki-Okano Uchida, Etsuko Shibata, Xiaoxiao Hao, …, Piotr Przanowski, Anthony Trimboli, Yoshiyuki Shibata, Gustavo Leone, Anindya Dutta

eLife  ·  30 Apr 2025  ·  doi:10.7554/eLife.102915

2024

Patient-derived response estimates from zero-passage organoids of luminal breast cancer

Róża K. Przanowska, Najwa Labban, Piotr Przanowski, Russell B. Hawes, Kristen A. Atkins, Shayna L. Showalter, Kevin A. Janes

Breast Cancer Research  ·  31 Dec 2024  ·  doi:10.1186/s13058-024-01931-5

2023

ANKLE1 cleaves mitochondrial DNA and contributes to cancer risk by promoting apoptosis resistance and metabolic dysregulation

Piotr Przanowski, Róża K. Przanowska, Michael J. Guertin

Communications Biology  ·  01 Mar 2023  ·  doi:10.1038/s42003-023-04611-w

Kinetic networks identify TWIST2 as a key regulatory node in adipogenesis

Arun B. Dutta, Daniel S. Lank, Roza K. Przanowska, Piotr Przanowski, Lixin Wang, Bao Nguyen, Ninad M. Walavalkar, Fabiana M. Duarte, Michael J. Guertin

Genome Research  ·  21 Feb 2023  ·  doi:10.1101/gr.277559.122

2022

Distinct MUNC lncRNA structural domains regulate transcription of different promyogenic factors

Roza K. Przanowska, Chase A. Weidmann, Shekhar Saha, Magdalena A. Cichewicz, Kate N. Jensen, …, Patrick S. Irving, Kevin A. Janes, Michael J. Guertin, Kevin M. Weeks, Anindya Dutta

Cell Reports  ·  01 Feb 2022  ·  doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110361

2021

Noncoding RNAs: biology and applications—a Keystone Symposia report

Jennifer Cable, Edith Heard, Tetsuro Hirose, Kannanganattu V. Prasanth, Ling‐Ling Chen, …, Mukesh Kumar Lalwani, Murat Can Kalem, Edward B. Chuong, Lynne E. Maquat, Xuhang Liu

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences  ·  17 Nov 2021  ·  doi:10.1111/nyas.14713

Essentiality and Functional Importance of Short and Long Non-coding RNAs in Myogenesis

Roza Przanowska

University of Virginia  ·  25 Jun 2021  ·  doi:10.18130/frkw-fd05

2020

Open collaborative writing with Manubot

Daniel S. Himmelstein, Vincent Rubinetti, David R. Slochower, Dongbo Hu, Venkat S. Malladi, Casey S. Greene, Anthony Gitter

PLOS Computational Biology  ·  04 Dec 2020  ·  doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007128

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Manubot

Manuscript Source

Website

open-science collaboration

miR‐206 family is important for mitochondrial and muscle function, but not essential for myogenesis in vitro

Roza K. Przanowska, Ewelina Sobierajska, Zhangli Su, Kate Jensen, Piotr Przanowski, …, Jennifer A. Kashatus, David F. Kashatus, Sanchita Bhatnagar, John R. Lukens, Anindya Dutta

The FASEB Journal  ·  11 Apr 2020  ·  doi:10.1096/fj.201902855RR

The pan-cancer landscape of prognostic germline variants in 10,582 patients

Ajay Chatrath, Roza Przanowska, Shashi Kiran, Zhangli Su, Shekhar Saha, …, Xiwei Tang, Tianxi Li, Pankaj Kumar, Aakrosh Ratan, Anindya Dutta

Genome Medicine  ·  17 Feb 2020  ·  doi:10.1186/s13073-020-0718-7

tRNA-derived fragments and microRNAs in the maternal-fetal interface of a mouse maternal-immune-activation autism model

Zhangli Su, Elizabeth L. Frost, Catherine R. Lammert, Roza K. Przanowska, John R. Lukens, Anindya Dutta

RNA Biology  ·  31 Jan 2020  ·  doi:10.1080/15476286.2020.1721047

Constructing knowledge graphs and their biomedical applications

David N. Nicholson, Casey S. Greene

Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal  ·  01 Jan 2020  ·  doi:10.1016/j.csbj.2020.05.017

2018

MUNC, an Enhancer RNA Upstream from the MYOD Gene, Induces a Subgroup of Myogenic Transcripts in trans Independently of MyoD

Magdalena A. Cichewicz, Manjari Kiran, Róża K. Przanowska, Ewelina Sobierajska, Yoshiyuki Shibata, Anindya Dutta

Molecular and Cellular Biology  ·  01 Oct 2018  ·  doi:10.1128/MCB.00655-17

Sci-Hub provides access to nearly all scholarly literature

Daniel S Himmelstein, Ariel Rodriguez Romero, Jacob G Levernier, Thomas Anthony Munro, Stephen Reid McLaughlin, Bastian Greshake Tzovaras, Casey S Greene

eLife  ·  01 Mar 2018  ·  doi:10.7554/eLife.32822