Lisa M. Abegglen

Lisa M. Abegglen, PhD

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments Primary - Pediatrics

Divisions: Hematology/Oncology

Dr. Lisa M. Abegglen is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Utah and an investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute. Her work focuses on understanding how animals naturally resist cancer and other diseases, and how these insights can be used to improve human health and wildlife conservation. She co-discovered that elephants have extra copies of the tumor suppressor gene TP53, which contributes to their enhanced cancer suppression and provides a model for developing new therapies.

Dr. Abegglen also leads a cross-species biobanks, with samples from a large number of diverse species. Using these resources, her research explores the genetic and cellular mechanisms that influence cancer risk and immune defense, with an emphasis on translating evolutionary discoveries into novel strategies for cancer prevention and treatment. In addition, she studies elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus-hemorrhagic disease (EEHV-HD), focusing on how harmful innate immune responses drive severity and how they might be targeted to improve survival and support conservation.

Education History

Fellowship University of Utah
 Postdoctoral Research Associate
Doctoral Training Emory University
 PhD
Undergraduate University of Georgia
 BS

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Abegglen LM, Rogers A, Mitchell G, Bradley Nelson C, Sanborn MI, Kennington R, Rogers M, Pearson VR, Sharp M, Howard LL, Latimer E, Landolfi JA, Molter C, Crook E, Kiso W, Schmitt D, Ling PD, Martinod K, Schiffman JD (2026). Neutrophil extracellular traps offer a new therapeutic target for elephant endotheliotropic herpes virus-hemorrhagic disease (EEHV-HD). Commun Biol.
  2. Boddy AM, Abegglen LM (2025). Testing Nature's Defenses: Inducing Cancer in the Naked Mole Rat. Cancer Discov, 16(1), 7-9.
  3. Firsanov D, Zacher M, Tian X, Sformo TL, Zhao Y, Tombline G, Lu JY, Zheng Z, Perelli L, Gurreri E, Zhang L, Guo J, Korotkov A, Volobaev V, Biashad SA, Zhang Z, Heid J, Maslov AY, Sun S, Wu Z, Gigas J, Hillpot EC, Martinez JC, Lee M, Williams A, Gilman A, Hamilton N, Strelkova E, Haseljic E, Patel A, Straight ME, Miller N, Ablaeva J, Tam LM, Couderc C, Hoopmann MR, Moritz RL, Fujii S, Pelletier A, Hayman DJ, Liu H, Cai Y, Leung AKL, Zhang Z, Nelson CB, Abegglen LM, Schiffman JD, Gladyshev VN, Maley CC, Modesti M, Genovese G, Simons MJP, Vijg J, Seluanov A, Gorbunova V (2025). Evidence for improved DNA repair in the long-lived bowhead whale. Nature, 648(8094), 717-725.
  4. Compton ZT, Mellon W, Harris VK, Rupp S, Mallo D, Kapsetaki SE, Wilmot M, Kennington R, Noble K, Baciu C, Ramirez LN, Peraza A, Martins B, Sudhakar S, Aksoy S, Furukawa G, Vincze O, Giraudeau M, Duke EG, Spiro S, Flach E, Davidson H, Li CI, Zehnder A, Graham TA, Troan BV, Harrison TM, Tollis M, Schiffman JD, Aktipis CA, Abegglen LM, Maley CC, Boddy AM (2024). Cancer Prevalence across Vertebrates. Cancer Discov, 15(1), 227-244.
  5. Firsanov D, Zacher M, Tian X, Sformo TL, Zhao Y, Tombline G, Lu JY, Zheng Z, Perelli L, Gurreri E, Zhang L, Guo J, Korotkov A, Volobaev V, Biashad SA, Zhang Z, Heid J, Maslov A, Sun S, Wu Z, Gigas J, Hillpot E, Martinez J, Lee M, Williams A, Gilman A, Hamilton N, Haseljic E, Patel A, Straight M, Miller N, Ablaeva J, Tam LM, Couderc C, Hoopman M, Moritz R, Fujii S, Hayman DJ, Liu H, Cai Y, Leung AKL, Simons MJP, Zhang Z, Nelson CB, Abegglen LM, Schiffman JD, Gladyshev VN, Modesti M, Genovese G, Vijg J, Seluanov A, Gorbunova V (2024). DNA repair and anti-cancer mechanisms in the long-lived bowhead whale. bioRxiv.
  6. Kapsetaki SE, Compton ZT, Mellon W, Vincze O, Giraudeau M, Harrison TM, Abegglen LM, Boddy AM, Maley CC, Schiffman JD (2024). Germline mutation rate predicts cancer mortality across 37 vertebrate species. Evol Med Public Health, 12(1), 122-128.
  7. Willig F, Torpy FJ, Harrison SH, Duke EG, Troan B, Boddy AM, Abegglen LM, Harrison TM (2024). Evaluation of Neoplasia, Treatments, and Survival in Lizard Species. Animals (Basel), 14(10).
  8. Ferraro E, Harrison SH, Duke E, Troan B, Boddy A, Abegglen LM, Harrison TM (2024). Retrospective Study of the Prevalence, Histopathology, Therapy, and Survival Time of Neoplastic Disease in Fish. Animals (Basel), 14(3).
  9. Compton ZT, Harris V, Mellon W, Rupp S, Mallo D, Kapsetaki SE, Wilmot M, Kennington R, Noble K, Baciu C, Ramirez L, Peraza A, Martins B, Sudhakar S, Aksoy S, Furukawa G, Vincze O, Giraudeau M, Duke EG, Spiro S, Flach E, Davidson H, Zehnder A, Graham TA, Troan B, Harrison TM, Tollis M, Schiffman JD, Aktipis A, Abegglen LM, Maley CC, Boddy AM (2023). Cancer Prevalence Across Vertebrates. Res Sq.
  10. AbdulJabbar K, Castillo SP, Hughes K, Davidson H, Boddy AM, Abegglen LM, Minoli L, Iussich S, Murchison EP, Graham TA, Spiro S, Maley CC, Aresu L, Palmieri C, Yuan Y (2023). Bridging clinic and wildlife care with AI-powered pan-species computational pathology. Nat Commun, 14(1), 2408.
  11. Preston AJ, Rogers A, Sharp M, Mitchell G, Toruno C, Barney BB, Donovan LN, Bly J, Kennington R, Payne E, Iovino A, Furukawa G, Robinson R, Shamloo B, Buccilli M, Anders R, Eckstein S, Fedak EA, Wright T, Maley CC, Kiso WK, Schmitt D, Malkin D, Schiffman JD, Abegglen LM (2023). Elephant TP53-RETROGENE 9 induces transcription-independent apoptosis at the mitochondria. Cell Death Discov, 9(1), 66.
  12. Light N, Layeghifard M, Attery A, Subasri V, Zatzman M, Anderson ND, Hatkar R, Blay S, Chen D, Novokmet A, Fuligni F, Tran J, de Borja R, Agarwal H, Waldman L, Abegglen LM, Albertson D, Finlay JL, Hansford JR, Behjati S, Villani A, Gerstung M, Alexandrov LB, Somers GR, Schiffman JD, Rotter V, Malkin D, Shlien A (2023). Germline TP53 mutations undergo copy number gain years prior to tumor diagnosis. Nat Commun, 14(1), 77.
  13. Tollis M, Ferris E, Campbell MS, Harris VK, Rupp SM, Harrison TM, Kiso WK, Schmitt DL, Garner MM, Aktipis CA, Maley CC, Boddy AM, Yandell M, Gregg C, Schiffman JD, Abegglen LM (2021). Elephant Genomes Reveal Accelerated Evolution in Mechanisms Underlying Disease Defenses. Mol Biol Evol, 38(9), 3606-3620.
  14. Fedak EA, Adler FR, Abegglen LM, Schiffman JD (2021). ATM and ATR Activation Through Crosstalk Between DNA Damage Response Pathways. Bull Math Biol, 83(4), 38.
  15. Pearson VR, Bosse JB, Koyuncu OO, Scherer J, Toruno C, Robinson R, Abegglen LM, Schiffman JD, Enquist LW, Rall GF (2021). Identification of African Elephant Polyomavirus in wild elephants and the creation of a vector expressing its viral tumor antigens to transform elephant primary cells. PLoS One, 16(2), e0244334.
  16. Middleton EA, He XY, Denorme F, Campbell RA, Ng D, Salvatore SP, Mostyka M, Baxter-Stoltzfus A, Borczuk AC, Loda M, Cody MJ, Manne BK, Portier I, Harris ES, Petrey AC, Beswick EJ, Caulin AF, Iovino A, Abegglen LM, Weyrich AS, Rondina MT, Egeblad M, Schiffman JD, Yost CC (2020). Neutrophil extracellular traps contribute to immunothrombosis in COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome. Blood, 136(10), 1169-1179.
  17. Boddy AM, Abegglen LM, Aktipis A, Schiffman JD, Maley CC, Witte C (2020). Does placental invasiveness lead to higher rates of malignant transformation in mammals?: Response to: 'Available data suggests positive relationship between placental invasion an malignancy'. Evol Med Public Health, 2020(1), 215-216.
  18. Boddy AM, Abegglen LM, Pessier AP, Aktipis A, Schiffman JD, Maley CC, Witte C (2020). Lifetime cancer prevalence and life history traits in mammals. Evol Med Public Health, 2020(1), 187-195.
  19. Ferris E, Abegglen LM, Schiffman JD, Gregg C (2017). Accelerated Evolution in Distinctive Species Reveals Candidate Elements for Clinically Relevant Traits, Including Mutation and Cancer Resistance. Cell Rep, 22(10), 2742-2755.

Review

  1. Mansur MB, deSouza NM, Natrajan R, Abegglen LM, Schiffman JD, Greaves M (2023). Evolutionary determinants of curability in cancer. [Review]. Nat Ecol Evol, 7(11), 1761-1770.
  2. Abegglen LM, Harrison TM, Moresco A, Fowles JS, Troan BV, Kiso WK, Schmitt D, Boddy AM, Schiffman JD (2022). Of Elephants and Other Mammals: A Comparative Review of Reproductive Tumors and Potential Impact on Conservation. [Review]. Animals (Basel), 12(15).
  3. Boddy AM, Harrison TM, Abegglen LM (2020). Comparative Oncology: New Insights into an Ancient Disease. [Review]. iScience, 23(8), 101373.

Letter

  1. Compton ZT, Boddy AM, Abegglen LM, Chvez D, Schiffman JD, Tollis M, Maley CC (2026). Divergent understandings in comparative oncology. [Letter to the editor]. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 123(6), e2532925123.

Other

  1. Firsanov D, Zacher M, Tian X, Sformo TL, Zhao Y, Tombline G, Lu JY, Zheng Z, Perelli L, Gurreri E, Zhang L, Guo J, Korotkov A, Volobaev V, Biashad SA, Zhang Z, Heid J, Maslov AY, Sun S, Wu Z, Gigas J, Hillpot EC, Martinez JC, Lee M, Williams A, Gilman A, Hamilton N, Strelkova E, Haseljic E, Patel A, Straight ME, Miller N, Ablaeva J, Tam LM, Couderc C, Hoopmann MR, Moritz RL, Fujii S, Pelletier A, Hayman DJ, Liu H, Cai Y, Leung AKL, Zhang Z, Nelson CB, Abegglen LM, Schiffman JD, Gladyshev VN, Maley CC, Modesti M, Genovese G, Simons MJP, Vijg J, Seluanov A, Gorbunova V (2025). Author Correction: Evidence for improved DNA repair in the long-lived bowhead whale. Nature (648(8094), pp. E14). England.