Brenda Weigel, M.D.

Associate Professor
Mayo Mail Code 366
420 Delaware St. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: (612) 626-5501
Fax: (612) 624-3913
weige007@umn.edu
Preferred method of contact: Office, 612-626-5501

Dr. Brenda Weigel received her medical degree from MacMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and did her residency in Pediatrics at the University of Western Ontario. She came to the University of Minnesota in 1996 to do a Fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant. During her four-year fellowship, Dr. Weigel worked in the lab of Dr. Bruce Blazar and developed a murine model of rhabdomyosarcoma. 

Dr. Weigel is currently the Director of the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. She is an associate professor cross-appointed at the University of Minnesota's Cancer Center and the Department of Pediatrics, and the recipient of the Lehman/Children’s Cancer Research Fund Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cancer. She is also the Co-Director of the Sarcoma Program for the Masonic Cancer Center, and an Associate Director of the Cancer Experimental Therapeutics Initiative for the Masonic Cancer Center. 

Research interests:

Dr. Weigel’s translational research interests are centered in her extensive involvement with the Children’s Oncology Group (COG). Her responsibilities with the COG include:

• Vice Chair, Developmental Therapeutics
• Co-chair for New High Risk Rhabdomyosarcoma Study
• Chair, Phase II Study of IGFR Antibody
• Chair, High Risk Rhabdomyosarcoma Study

Honors and Awards

• 2009 Appointed member of AACR Pediatric Oncology Task Force
• 2008 Advisory Board for Pediatric Sarcoma, American Society of Clinical Oncology
• 2006 NIH/NCI Pediatric Pre-clinical Testing Program, COG Disease Committee Liaison Advisory Council
• 2006 Butterfly Award, Children’s Cancer Research Fund
• 2005 Alexander Charles Jundt Research Award
• 2004 Lehman/Children's Cancer Research Fund, Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cancer
• 2003 University Pediatrics Foundation Scholar Award, University of Minnesota
• 2002 Translational Research Award, Children's Oncology Group
• 2001 Young Investigator Award, Children's Oncology Group
• 2000 Young Investigator Award, Children's Oncology Group (formerly known as Children's Cancer Group)
• 1999 Young Investigator Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology
• 1998-2000 Chief Fellow, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology,University of Minnesota

Her major interests have been advancing new therapies, particularily therapies that harness the immune system’s role in fighting cancer. 

Selected Recent Publications

1. Zhou Q, Munger ME, Veenstra RG, Weigel BJ, Hirashima M, Munn DH, Murphy WJ, Azuma M, Anderson AC, Kuchroo VK, Blazar BR. Co-expression of Tim-3 and PD-1 identifies a CD8+ T-cell exhaustion phenotype in mice with disseminated acute myelogenous leukemia. Blood. [epub 8 March 2011].
    
2. Beck JC, Cao Q, Trotz B, Smith AR, Weigel BJ, Verneris MR, Burke MJ. Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation outcomes for children with B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia and early or late BM relapse. Bone Marrow Transplant [epub 20 September 2010].
    
3. Geller M, Cooley S, Argenta P, Downs L, Carson L, Judson P, Ghebre R, Weigel B, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Curtsinger J, Miller J. Toll-like receptor-7 (TLR-7) agonist administered subcutaneously in a prolonged dosing schedule in heavily pretreated recurrent breast, ovarian, and cervix cancers. Cancer Immunol Immunother 59(12):1877-84, 2010.
    
4. Zhou Q, Munger ME, Highfill WE, Tolar J, Weigel BJ, Riddle M, Sharpe AH, Vallera DA, Azuma M, Levine BL, June CH, Murphy WJ, Munn DH, Blazar, BR. Program death-1 (PD-1) signaling and regulatory T cells (Tregs) collaborate to resist the function of adoptively transferred cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in advanced acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Blood 116(14):2484-93, 2010.
    
5. Ahn YO, Weigel B, Verneris MR. Killing the killer: natural killer cells to treat Ewing’s sarcoma. Clin Cancer Res 16(15):3819-21, 2010.
    
6. Burke MJ, Cao Q, Trotz B, Weigel B, Kumar A, Smith A, Verneris MR. Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allogeneic HCT) for treatment of pediatric Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Pediatr Blood Cancer 53(7):1289-94, 2009.
    
7. Zhou Q, Bucher C, Munger ME, Highfill SL, Tolar J, Munn DH, Levine B, Riddle M, June CH, Vallera DA, Weigel BJ, Blazar BR. Depletion of endogenous tumor-associated regulatory T cells improves the efficacy of adoptive immunotherapy in murine acute myeloid leukemia. Blood 114(18):3793-802, 2009.
    
8. Taylor PA, Ehrhardt MJ, Lees CJ, Tolar J, Weigel BJ, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Serody JS, Brinkmann V, Blazar BR. Insights into the mechanism of FTY720 and compatibility with regulatory T cells for the inhibition of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Blood 110(9):3480-8, 2007.
    
9. Weigel BJ, Blaney SM, Reid JM, Safgren SL, Bagatell R, Kersey J, Neglia JP, Ivy SP, Ingle AM, Whitesell L, Gilbertson RJ, Krailo M, Ames M, Adamson PC. A phase I study of 17-allylaminogeldanamycin in relapsed/refractory pediatric patients with solid tumors: a Children’s Oncology Group study. Clin Cancer Res 13(6):1789-93, 2007.
    
10. Yao Q, Weigel B, Kersey J. Synergism between etoposide and 17-AAG in leukemia cells: critical roles for Hsp90, FLT3, topoisomerase II, Chk1, and Rad51. Clin Cancer Res 13(5):1591-600, 2007.
     
11. Weigel BJ, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Diers M, Garcia M, Lees C, Krieg AM, Chen W, Blazar BR. Dendritic cells pulsed or fused with AML cellular antigen provide comparable in vivo antitumor protective responses. Exp Hematol 34(10):1403-12, 2006.
     
12. Fraser CJ, Weigel BJ, Perentesis JP, Dusenbery KE, DeFor TE, Baker KS, Verneris MR. Autologous stem cell transplantation for high-risk Ewing’s sarcoma and other pediatric solid tumors. Bone Marrow Transplant 37(2):175-81, 2006.
     
13. Smith AR, Repka TL, Weigel BJ. Aprepitant for the control of chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting in adolescents. Pediatr Blood Cancer 45(6):857-60, 2005.
     
14. Nagarajan R, Clohisy D, Weigel B. New paradigms for therapy for osteosarcoma. Curr Oncol Rep 7(6):410-4, 2005.
     
15. Sauer MG, Ericson ME, Weigel BJ, Herron MJ, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Kren BT, Levine BL, Serody JS, June CH, Taylor PA, Blazar BR. A novel system for simultaneous in vivo tracking and biological assessment of leukemia cells and ex vivo generated leukemia-reactive cytotoxic T cells. Cancer Res 64(11):3914-21, 2004.
     
16. Weigel BJ, Rodeberg DA, Krieg AM, Blazar BR. CpG oligodeoxynucleotides potentiate the antitumor effects of chemotherapy or tumor resection in an orthotopic murine model of rhabdomyosarcoma. Clin Cancer Res 9(8):3105-14, 2003.
     
17. Harmala LAE, Ingulli EG, Curtsinger JM, Lucido MM, Schmidt CS, Weigel BJ, Blazar BR, Mescher MF, Pennell CA. The adjuvant effects of Mycobacterium tuberculosis heat shock protein 70 result from the rapid and prolonged activation of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells in vivo. J Immunol 169(10):5622-9, 2002.
     
18. Weigel BJ, Nath N, Taylor PA, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Chen W, Krieg AM, Brasel K, Blazar BR. Comparative analysis of murine marrow-derived dendritic cells generated by Flt3L or GM-CSF/IL-4 and matured with immune stimulatory agents on the in vivo induction of antileukemia responses. Blood 100(12):4169-76, 2002.
     
19. Pawlowska AB, Hashino S, McKenna H, Weigel BJ, Taylor PA, Blazar BR. In vitro tumor-pulsed or in vivo Flt3 ligand-generated dendritic cells provide protection against acute myelogenous leukemia in nontransplanted or syngeneic bone marrow-transplanted mice. Blood 97(5):1474-82, 2001.
     
20. Weigel BJ, Breitfeld PP, Hawkins D, Crist WM, Baker KS. Role of high-dose chemotherapy with hematopoietic stem cell rescue in the treatment of metastatic or recurrent rhabdomyosarcoma. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol 23(5):272-6, 2001.