Russell Rockne, Ph.D.

Russell Rockne, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computational and Quantitative Medicine within Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope. He also serves as director of the Division of Mathematical Oncology, with the goal of translating mathematics, physics and evolution-based research to clinical care.

Dr. Rockne received his doctorate in mathematical biology from University of Washington in 2013, and then conducted a postdoc in mathematical oncology at Northwestern University.  He also has been a research associate in neurological surgery, and a research scientist in pathology and applied mathematics. In 2014, Dr. Rockne received the “Future of Mathematical Biology” award from the Society for Mathematical Biology.

• Russell Rockne @rrockne
• City of Hope MathOnc @COHMathOnc

Dr. Rockne's research focuses on patient-specific mathematical models of cancer growth and response to therapy. His research lies at the interface of mathematics, imaging, histopathology and genomics, combining information to mathematically model treatment of individual cancer patients, and how their tumors evolve when confronted with specific treatment regimens. Dr. Rockne's personal research goal is to explore the novel hypothesis that mathematical models can quantify and predict individual patient disease dynamics and recurrence resulting from therapy in vivo.

Google Scholar

• Frankhouser DE*, Rockne RC*, Uechi L, Zhao D, Branciamore S, O’Meally D, Irizarry J, Ghoda L, Ali H, Trent JM, Forman S, Fu YH, Kuo YH, Zhang B*, Marcucci G*. State-transition modeling of blood transcriptome predicts disease evolution and treatment response in chronic myeloid leukemia. Leukemia. 2024; DOI: 10.1038/s41375-024-02142-9
• Mattson NM, Chan AKN, Miyashita K, Mukhaleva E, Chang WH, Yang L, Ma N, Wang Y, Pokharel SP, Li M, Liu Q, Xu X, Chen R, Singh P, Zhang L, Elsayed Z, Chen B, Keen D, Pirrotte P, Rosen ST, Chen J, LaBarge MA, Shively JE, Vaidehi N, Rockne RC, Feng M, Chen CW. A novel class of inhibitors that disrupts the stability of integrin heterodimers identified by CRISPR-tiling-instructed genetic screens. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 2024; PMID: 6243280 DOI: 10.1038/s41594-024-01211-y
• Li R, Sahoo P, Wang D, Wang Q, Brown CE, Rockne RC, Cho H. Modeling interaction of Glioma cells and CAR T-cells considering multiple CAR T-cells bindings. ImmunoInformatics. 2023 Jan 16;(9):100022. PMID: 36875891 PMCID: PMC9983577 DOI: 10.1016/j.immuno.2023.100022
• Hilliard S, Mosoyan K, Branciamore S, Gogoshin G, Zhang A, Simons DL, Rockne RC, Lee PP, Rodin AS. Bow-tie architectures in biological and artificial neural networks: implications for network evolution and assay design. iScience. 2023 Jan 25;106041. PMID: 36818303 PMCID: PMC9929672 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106041
• Brummer AB, Xella A, Woodall R, Adhikarla V, Cho H, Gutova M, Brown CE, Rockne RC. Data driven model discovery and interpretation for CAR T-cell killing using sparse identification and latent variables. Frontiers in Immunology. 2023 PMID: 37256133 PMCID: PMC10226275 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1115536
• Awuah D, Minnix M, Caserta E, Tandoh T, Adhikarla V, Poku E, Rockne RC, Pichiorri F, Shively JE, Wang X. Sequential CAR T cell and targeted alpha immunotherapy in disseminated multiple myeloma. Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy. 2023 May 20. PMID: 37209218 PMCID: PMC10361855 DOI: 10.1007/s00262-023-03461-z
• Chen BT, Jin T, Ye N, Chen SW, Rockne RC, Yoon S, Mambetsariev I, Daniel E, Salgia R. Differential Distribution of Brain Metastases from Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Based on Mutation Status. Brain Sciences. 2023 Jul 11;13(7):1057. PMID: 37508989 PMCID: PMC10377121 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13071057
  *Featured cover story
• Vu L, Garcia-Mansfield K, Pompeiano A, An J, David-Dirgo V, Sharma R, Venugopal V, Halait H, Marcucci G, Kuo YH, Uechi L, Rockne RC, Pirrotte P, Bowser R. Proteomics and mathematical modeling of longitudinal CSF differentiates fast versus slow ALS progression. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2023 Aug 30. PMID: 37646115 PMCID: PMC10647001 DOI: 10.1002/acn3.51890
  *Editorial feature highlighting novelty of mathematical modeling approach in ALS
• Zhang B, Zhao D, Chen F, Frankhouser D, Wang H, Pathak KV, Dong L, Torres A, Garcia-Mansfield K, Zhang Y, Hoang DH, Chen MH, Tao S, Cho H, Liang Y, Perrotti D, Branciamore S, Rockne RC, Wu X, Ghoda L, Li L, Jin J, Chen J, Yu J, Caligiuri MA, Kuo YH, Boldin M, Su R, Swiderski P, Kortylewski M, Pirrotte P, Nguyen LXT, Marcucci G. Acquired miR-142 deficit in leukemic stem cells suffices to drive chronic myeloid leukemia into blast crisis. Nature Communications. Nature Publishing Group; 2023;14(1):1–21. PMID: 37658085 PMCID: PMC10474062 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41167-z
• Amirbekyan M, Adhikarla V, Cheng JP, Moschonas EH, Bondi CO, Rockne RC, Kline AE, Gutova M. Neuroprotective potential of intranasally delivered L-myc immortalized human neural stem cells in female rats after a controlled cortical impact injury. Scientific Reports. 2023 Oct 19;13(1):17874. PMID: 37857701 PMCID: PMC10587115 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-44426-7
• Kim YW, Zara G, Kang H, Branciamore S, O’Meally D, Feng Y, Kuan CY, Luo Y, Nelson MS, Brummer AB, Rockne R, Chen ZB, Zheng Y, Cardoso AA, Carlesso N. Integration of single-cell transcriptomes and biological function reveals distinct behavioral patterns in bone marrow endothelium. Nature Communications. 2022 Nov 24;13(1):7235. PMID: 36433940 PMCID: PMC9700769 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34425-z
• Cho H*, Kuo Y-H, Rockne RC*. Comparison of cell state models derived from single-cell RNA sequencing data: graph versus multi-dimensional space. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering. 2022;19(8):8505–8536. PMID: 35801475 PMCID: PMC9308174 DOI: 10.3934/mbe.2022395
• Bebis G, Levy D, Rockne RC, Lima E, Benos P V. Editorial: Advances in Mathematical and Computational Oncology. Frontiers in Physiology. 2022. PMID: 354645082 PMCID: PMC9021698 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.889198
• Barish ME, Weng L, Awabdeh D, Zhai Y, Starr R, Apuzzo MD, Rockne RC, Li H, Badie B, Forman SJ, Brown CE. Spatial organization of heterogeneous immunotherapy target antigen expression in high-grade glioma. Neoplasia. Elsevier Inc.; 2022;May 30:100801. PMID: 35550513 PMCID: PMC9108993 DOI: 10.1016/j.neo.2022.100801
• Franklin R, Guo Y, He S, Chen M, Ji F, Zhou X, Frankhouser D, Do BT, Chiem C, Jang M, Blanco MA, Vander Heiden MG, Rockne RC, Ninova M, Sykes DB, Hochedlinger K, Lu R, Sadreyev RI, Murn J, Volk A, Cheloufi S. Regulation of chromatin accessibility by the histone chaperone CAF-1 sustains lineage fidelity. Nature Communications. 2022;13(1):2350. PMID: 35487911 PMCID: PMC9054786 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29730-6
• Frankhouser DE, Meally DO, Branciamore S, Uechi L, Zhang L, Chen Y, Li M, Qin H, Wu X, Carlesso N, Marcucci G*, Rockne RC*, Kuo Y*. Dynamic patterns of microRNA expression during acute myeloid leukemia state-transition. Science Advances. 2022;8(16):eabj1664. PMID: 35452289 PMCID: PMC9032952 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abj1664
• Hoang D, Zhao D, Branciamore S, Maestrini D, Rodriguez IR, Kuo Y, Rockne RC, Khaled SK, Zhang B, Nguyen LXT, Marcucci G. MicroRNA networks in FLT3-ITD acute myeloid leukemia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA (PNAS). 2022;119(16):e2112482119. PMID: 35412895 PMCID: PMC9169767 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2112482119
• Brummer AB, Yang X, Ma E, Gutova M, Brown C, Rockne RC. Dose-dependent thresholds of dexamethasone destabilize CAR T-cell treatment efficacy. PLOS Computational Biology, 2022, 18(1): e1009504. PMID: 35081104 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009504
• Gomez J, Holmes H, Hansen A, Adhikarla V, Gutova M, Rockne RC, Cho H. Mathematical modeling of therapeutic neural stem cell migration in mouse brain with and without brain tumors. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 2022, 19(3): 2592-2615. PMID: DOI: 10.3934/mbe.2022119
• Woodall RT, Sahoo P, Cui Y, Chen BT, Shiroishi MS, Lavini C, Frankel P, Gutova M, Brown CE, Munson J, Rockne RC. Repeatability of Tumor Perfusion Kinetics from Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI in Glioblastoma. Neuro-Oncology Advances. 2021 Nov 22;3(1):vdab174. PMID: 34988454 PMCID: PMC8715899 DOI: 10.1093/noajnl/vdab174
• Zhang L, Xuan L, Nguyen T, Chen Y, Wu D, Cook GJ, Hoang DH, Brewer CJ, He X, Dong H, Li S, Li M, Zhao D, Qi J, Hua W, Cai Q, Carnahan E, Chen W, Wu X, Swiderski P, Rockne RC, Kortylewski M, Li L, Zhang B, Marcucci G, Kuo Y. Targeting miR-126 in inv(16) acute myeloid leukemia inhibits leukemia development and leukemia stem cell maintenance. Nature Communications. Springer US; 2021;12(6154):1–17. PMID: 34686664 PMCID: PMC8536759 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26420-7
• Adhikarla V*, Awuah D, Brummer AB, Caserta E, Krishnan A, Pichiorri F, Minnix M, Shively JE, Wong JYC, Wang X, Rockne RC*. A Mathematical Modeling Approach for Targeted Radionuclide and Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Combination Therapy. Cancers (Basel). 2021;13(20):5171. PMID: 34680320 PMCID: PMC8533817 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13205171
• Zhang B, Nguyen LXT, Zhao D, Frankhouser DE, Wang H, Hoang DH, Qiao J, Abundis C, Brehove M, Su Y-L, Feng Y, Stein A, Ghoda L, Dorrance A, Perrotti D, Chen Z, Han A, Pichiorri F, Jin J, Jovanovic-Talisman T, Caligiuri MA, Kuo CJ, Yoshimura A, Li L, Rockne RC, Kortylewski M, Zheng Y, Carlesso N, Kuo Y-H, Marcucci G. Treatment-induced arteriolar revascularization and miR-126 enhancement in bone marrow niche protect leukemic stem cells in AML. Journal of Hematology Oncology. BioMed Central; 2021;14(1):1–19. PMID: 34372909 PMCID: PMC8351342 DOI: 10.1186/s13045-021-01133-y
• Gutova M, Cheng JP, Adhikarla V, Tsaturyan L, Barish ME, Rockne RC, Moschonas EH, Bondi CO, Kline AE. Intranasally Administered L-Myc-Immortalized Human Neural Stem Cells Migrate to Primary and Distal Sites of Damage after Cortical Impact and Enhance Spatial Learning. Stem Cells International. 2021;2021(5549381) PMID: 34122556 PMCID: PMC8166475 DOI: 10.1155/5549381
• Jarrett AM, Hormuth DA, Adhikarla V, Sahoo P, Abler D, Tumyan L, Schmolze D, Mortimer J, Rockne RC*, Yankeelov T*. Towards integration of 64Cu-DOTA-Trasztusumab PET-CT and MRI with mathematical modeling to predict response to neoadjuvant therapy in HER2+ breast cancer. Scientific Reports. 2020 10(20518):1-14 PMID: 33239688 PMCID: PMC7688955 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-77397-0
• Chatterjee K, Atay N, Abler D, Bhargava S, Sahoo P., Rockne RC, Munson JM. Utilizing Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DCE-MRI) to Analyze Interstitial Fluid Flow and Transport in Glioblastoma and the Surrounding Parenchyma in Human Patients. Pharmaceutics. 2021;13(2):212 PMID: 33557069 PMCID: PMC7913790 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics13020212
• Lai C, Chen AT, Burns AB, Sriram K, Luo Y, Tang X, Branciamore S, Meally DO, Chang S, Huang P, Shyy JY, Chien S, Rockne RC*, Chen ZB*. RAMP2-AS1 Regulates Endothelial Homeostasis and Aging. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. 2021;9(635307) PMID: 33644072 PMCID: PMC7907448 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.635307
• Nguyen LXT, Zhang B, Hoang DH, Zhao D, Branciamore S, Maestrini D, SU Y-L, Rodriguez S, Pichiorri F, Rosen S, Caligiuri MA, Forman SJ, Li L, Kortylewski M, Rockne R, Kuo Y-H, Carlesso N, Marcucci G. Cytoplasmic DROSHA and non-canonical mechanisms of MiR-155 biogenesis in FLT3-ITD acute myeloid leukemia. Leukemia. Springer US; 2021;1–14 PMID: 33589748 DOI: 10.1038/s41375- 021-01166-9
• Rodin A, Gogoshin G, Hilliard S, Wang L, Egelston C, Rockne RC, Chao J, Lee P. Dissecting Response to Cancer Immunotherapy by Applying Bayesian Network Analysis to Flow Cytometry Data. International Journal of Molecular Science. 2021;22(2316) PMID: 33652558 PMCID: PMC7956201 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22052316
• Chen BT, Jin T, Ye N, Mambetsariev I, Wang T, Wong CW, Chen Z, Rockne RC, Colen RR, Holodny AI, Sampath S, Salgia R. Predicting Survival Duration With MRI Radiomics of Brain Metastases From Non-small Cell Lung Cancer. Frontiers in Oncology. 2021;11(March):1–12. PMID: 33747933 PMCID: PMC7973105 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2021.621088
• Chen BT, Chen Z, Patel SK, Rockne RC, Wong CW, Root JC, Saykin AJ, Ahles TA, Holodny AI, Sun C, Sedrak MS, Kim H, Celis A, Katheria V, Dale W. Effect of chemotherapy on default mode network connectivity in older women with breast cancer. Brain Imaging and Behavior; 2021; PMID: 34019223 PMCID: PMC8606014 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-021-00475-y
• Minnix M, Adhikarla V, Caserta E, Poku E, Rockne R, Shively JE, Pichiorri F. Comparison of CD38 targeted alpha- vs beta-radionuclide therapy of disseminated multiple myeloma in an animal model. Journal of Nuclear Medicine. 62(6):795-801 2020 Oct 30; PMID: 33127621 PMCID: PMC8729861 DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.120.251983