Nitin Roper, M.D., M.Sc.

Lasker Clinical Research Scholar

Developmental Therapeutics Branch

NCI/CCR

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Building 37, Room 5056B
Bethesda, MD 20892

240-858-3571

nitin.roper@nih.gov

Research Topics

My overall research goal is to decipher the mechanisms that augment treatment response in neuroendocrine tumors. In particular, I am interested in: 1) deciphering the biologic mechanisms of neuroendocrine tumors that may, in turn, predict response or lack of response to immune checkpoint inhibition; 2) elucidating the epigenetic mechanisms which drive neuroendocrine tumors; and 3) establishing pre-clinical, organoid models of neuroendocrine tumors. These studies will inform rational combinations to augment both epigenetic and immunotherapy approaches within neuroendocrine tumors.

Biography

After completing his undergraduate work at Brown University, Dr. Roper received his M.D. at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He subsequently obtained a Master’s in Clinical Research Methods from Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health and was an Instructor in Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. He completed medical oncology training through the NHLBI-NCI Hematology Oncology Fellowship program and is board certified in Medical Oncology. Dr. Roper joined the Developmental Therapeutics Branch as a Physician Scientist Early Investigator in the fall of 2019. Dr. Roper was appointed as a Lasker Clinical Research Scholar in 2023.

Selected Publications

  1. Pongor LS, Schultz CW, Rinaldi L, Wangsa D, Redon CE, Takahashi N, Fialkoff G, Desai P, Zhang Y, Burkett S, Hermoni N, Vilk N, Gutin J, Gergely R, Zhao Y, Nichols S, Vilimas R, Sciuto L, Graham C, Caravaca JM, Turan S, Tsai-Wei S, Rajapakse VN, Kumar R, Upadhyay D, Kumar S, Kim YS, Roper N, Tran B, Hewitt SM, Kleiner DE, Aladjem MI, Friedman N, Hager GL, Pommier Y, Ried T, Thomas A. Extrachromosomal DNA Amplification Contributes to Small Cell Lung Cancer Heterogeneity and Is Associated with Worse Outcomes. Cancer Discov. 2023;13(4):928-949.
  2. Sun Y, Baechler SA, Zhang X, Kumar S, Factor VM, Arakawa Y, Chau CH, Okamoto K, Parikh A, Walker B, Su YP, Chen J, Ting T, Huang SN, Beck E, Itkin Z, McKnight C, Xie C, Roper N, Nijhawan D, Figg WD, Meltzer PS, Yang JC, Thomas CJ, Pommier Y. Targeting neddylation sensitizes colorectal cancer to topoisomerase I inhibitors by inactivating the DCAF13-CRL4 ubiquitin ligase complex. Nat Commun. 2023;14(1):3762.
  3. Roper N, Velez MJ, Chiappori A, Kim YS, Wei JS, Sindiri S, Takahashi N, Mulford D, Kumar S, Ylaya K, Trindade C, Manukyan I, Brown AL, Trepel JB, Lee JM, Hewitt S, Khan J, Thomas A. Notch signaling and efficacy of PD-1/PD-L1 blockade in relapsed small cell lung cancer. Nat Commun. 2021;12(1):3880.
  4. Roper N, Brown AL, Wei JS, Pack S, Trindade C, Kim C, Restifo O, Gao S, Sindiri S, Mehrabadi F, El Meskini R, Ohler ZW, Maity TK, Venugopalan A, Cultraro CM, Akoth E, Padiernos E, Chen H, Kesarwala A, Smart DK, Nilubol N, Rajan A, Piotrowska Z, Xi L, Raffeld M, Panchenko AR, Sahinalp C, Hewitt S, Hoang CD, Khan J, Guha U. Clonal Evolution and Heterogeneity of Osimertinib Acquired Resistance Mechanisms in EGFR Mutant Lung Cancer. Cell Rep Med. 2020;1(1).
  5. Roper N, Gao S, Maity TK, Banday AR, Zhang X, Venugopalan A, Cultraro CM, Patidar R, Sindiri S, Brown AL, Goncearenco A, Panchenko AR, Biswas R, Thomas A, Rajan A, Carter CA, Kleiner DE, Hewitt SM, Khan J, Prokunina-Olsson L, Guha U. APOBEC Mutagenesis and Copy-Number Alterations Are Drivers of Proteogenomic Tumor Evolution and Heterogeneity in Metastatic Thoracic Tumors. Cell Rep. 2019;26(10):2651-2666.e6.

Related Scientific Focus Areas

This page was last updated on Wednesday, November 8, 2023