Irina Elcheva

Dr. Irina Elcheva is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, with affiliations to the Penn State Cancer Institute and Neuroscience Institute. Her research focuses on gene expression regulation in human development and cancer, particularly through transcriptional programming of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and RNA-binding protein functions in leukemia stem cells.

• MBA, Pennsylvania State University (2020)
• PhD in Molecular Oncology, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (2000)
• BS in Biochemistry and Virology, Lomonosov Moscow State University (1996)
• Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Her laboratory investigates:

• Self-renewal and differentiation pathways in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells
• Transcriptional programming for myeloid blood development
• IGF2BP RNA-binding proteins' dual roles in cancer cell proliferation and immune suppression
• iPSC-based disease modeling and drug toxicity screening
• Immune-tumor microenvironment interactions in liquid and solid tumors

Recent publications highlight her work in:

• Developing gene signatures for leukemia prognostics
• Modeling prenatal opioid effects with iPSC-derived neural cells
• Elucidating RNA-binding protein regulation of Wnt/β-catenin pathways
• Investigating IGF2BP-mediated immunosuppression mechanisms

Academic contributions:

• Co-founder of Penn State's Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Program (2016)
• Faculty mentor in Clinician-Scientist Faculty Mentoring Program (FaMe)
• Course developer for advanced stem cell biology curricula