Education

BS-Biology	1998	University of California, USA
MS-Molecular Microbiology and Immunology	2005	University of Southern California, USA
PhD-Molecular Microbiology and Immunology	2009	University of Southern California, USA

Biography

As inaugural Director of the Therapeutic Cell Production Facility (TCPF) within RPCI’s Center for Immunotherapy, Dr. Choi led the planning, design, construction and startup of a cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practice) laboratory for manufacture of cell therapy products for phase I and II clinical research studies. In the course of this work, he has collaborated closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Choi has frequently been asked to share his expertise in the efficient setup and operation of facilities supporting cellular therapy clinical trials, and his team was the first to receive U.S. FDA approval to use barrier isolator technology in a phase I cellular therapy clinical trial.
Before joining RPCI in 2010 as TCPF Director and Assistant Professor of Oncology, Dr. Choi performed his post-graduate studies while managing the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center’s cGMP Facility at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). In his time at UCLA, he led the startup and operation of a cGMP-compliant facility and was part of the research team thatperformed, what we believe to be one of the first successful stem-cell gene-therapy clinical trials in the United States, testing a therapy for patients with adenosine deaminase deficiency (Candotti et al., 2012).

Dr. Choi has taken part in several investigator-initiated clinical trials and has spent more than a decade manufacturing clinical cell therapy products to improve the lives of patients. His activities and research focus on development of cellular, gene and biologic therapy clinical trials; manufacture of cellular products; and regulatory issues and quality assurance in clinical research. Under his direction, the TCPF has received the ISO 9001 international quality standard certification.

Research Interest

Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Good Tissue Practices (GTP), Gene Therapy, Stem Cells, Dendritic Cell Vaccines, Engineered T cells, Regulatory Science, Quality Assurance, Clinical Trials, Cell Therapy, Immunotherapy.

 

Professional Activities:

• (2011 – 2013) Buffalo Niagara Partnership – Perspectives Council - Member (2012) Buffalo Public School Scholarship Fair - Speaker
• (2012) Representative Crystal Peoples- Stokes, 4th Grade Motivational Speaker
• Futures Academy
• Martin Luther King Jr. School
• (2012) Ride for Roswell Kick-Off Event Inspirational Speaker (2012) Ride for Roswell Community Speaking Engagement - Praxair
• (2012) Susan G. Komen Foundation 11th Annual Survivor Luncheon Featured Speaker (2012-2014) The International Institute Trivia Night fundraiser - Judge
• (2013) The United Way of Buffalo – Grant Reviewer

 

Publications

1. Chen GL, Liu Hong, Hahn T, Wilding G, Groman G, Zhang Y, Bambach B, Choi C, Ross M, Starostik P, Deeb G, Sait S, Block AM, Wallace P, Singh AK, McCarthy PL. (2016) A Prospective Phase II Trial of Fludarabine, Melphalan, and Low Dose Total Body Irradiation as Reduced Intensity Conditioning for Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Patients with Hematologic Disorders. Blood (Manuscript in preparation)
2. Yang J, Huang T, Petralia F, Long Q, Zhang B, Argmann C, Zhao Y, Mobbs CV, GTEx Consortium, Schadt EE, Zhu J, Tu z. (2016) Synchronized age-related gene expression changes across multiple tissues in human and the link to complex diseases. Sci Rep. 6:19384. doi: 10.1038/srep19384.
3. Carithers LJ, Ardlie K, Barcus M, Branton PA, Britton A, Buia SA, Compton CC, DeLuca DS, Peter-Demchok J, Gelfand ET, Guan P, Korzeniewski GE, Lockhart NC,
4. Rabiner CA, Rao AK, Robinson KL, Roche NV, Sawyer SJ, Segrè AV, Shive CE, Smith AM, Sobin LH, Undale AH, Valentino KM, Vaught J, Young TR, Moore HM; GTEx Consortium. (2015) A Novel Approach to High-Quality Postmortem Tissue Procurement: The GTEx Project. Biopreserv Biobank. 13(5):311-9. doi: 10.1089/bio.2015.0032.
5. GTEx Consortium. (2015) Human genomics. The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) pilot analysis: multitissue gene regulation in humans. Science. Volume 348, No. 6235, pgs 648-660.  Rivas MA,  Pirinen M,  Conrad DF,  Lek M,  Tsang EK,  Karczewski KJ,  Maller JB,  Kukurba KR,  DeLuca DS,  Fromer M,  Ferreira PG,  Smith KS,  Zhang R,  Zhao F,  Banks E,  Poplin R,  Ruderfer DM,  Purcell SM,  Tukiainen T,  Minikel EV,  Stenson PD,  Cooper DN,  Huang KH,  Sullivan TJ,  Nedzel J;  GTEx Consortium;  Geuvadis Consortium,  Bustamante CD,  Li JB,  Daly MJ,  Guigo R,  Donnelly P,  Ardlie K,  Sammeth M,  Dermitzakis ET,  McCarthy MI,  Montgomery SB,  Lappalainen T,  MacArthur DG. (2015) Effect of predicted protein-truncating genetic variants on the human transcriptome. Science. Volume 348, No. 6235, pgs 666-669.
6.  Pierson E;  GTEx Consortium,  Koller D,  Battle A,  Mostafavi S,  Ardlie KG,  Getz G,  Wright FA,  Kellis M,  Volpi S,  Dermitzakis ET. (2015) Sharing and Specificity of Co-expression Networks across 35 Human Tissues. PLoS Comput Biol. 11(5):e1004220.doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004220
7. Candotti F, Shaw KL, Muul L, Carbonaro D, Sokolic R, Choi C, Shepherd S, Garabedian E, Kesserwan C, Jagadeesh G, Dunbar CE, Tisdale JF, Weinberg KI, Crooks GM, Kapoor N, Shah A, Abdel-Azim H, Yu X, Smogorzewska M, Wayne AS, Roswenblatt HM, Davis CM, Hanson C, Rishi RG, Wang X, Gjertson D, Fu P, Yange OO, Balamurugan A, Bauer G, Engel BC, Podsakoff GM, Hershfield M, Blaese RM, Parkman R, and Kohn DB. (2012) Gene Therapy for Adenosine Deaminase-deficient server combined immune Deficiency: Clinical Comparison of Retrovial Vectors and Treatment Plans. Blood Volume 120, no. 18, pgs. 3635-3646.
8.  Kahl CA, Tarantal AF, Lee CI, Jimenez DF, Choi C, Pepper K, Petersen D, Fletcher  MD, Leapley AC, Fisher J, Burns TS, Ultsch MN, Dorey FJ, Kohn DB. (2006) Effects of busulfan dose escalation on engraftment of infant rhesus monkey hematopoietic stem cells after gene marking by a lentiviral vector. Exp Hematol. Volume 34, Issue 3, pgs. 369-81.
9.  Podsakoff GM,  Engel BC,  Carbonaro DA,  Choi C,  Smogorzewska EM,  Bauer G,  Selander D,  Csik S,  Wilson K,  Betts MR,  Koup RA,  Nabel GJ,  Bishop K,  King S,  Schmidt M,  von Kalle C,  Church JA,  Kohn DB. (2005) Selective survival of peripheral blood lymphocytes in children with HIV-1 following delivery of an anti-HIV gene to bone marrow CD34(+) cells. Mol Therapy Volume 12, Issue 1, pgs. 77-86
10. Yu A, Olosz F, Choi C, and Malek TR. (2000) Efficient Internalization of IL-2 Depends on the Distal Portion of the Cytoplasmic Tail of the IL-2R Common  -Chain and a Lymphoid Cell Environment. J Immunol. Volume 165, pgs. 2556-2562.

Abstracts

1. Tario J, Choi C, Wallace P. (2013) The Effect of Alternative Oxygen Environments on Immunotherapeutic Dendritic Cell Vaccines. San Diego, CA, May 16-25.
2. Powell N, Tario J and Choi C. (2012) GMP in a box: Barrier Isolators for use in manufacture of cell products for clinical investigations. Presented at Meeting of the International Society for Cellular Therapy. Seattle, WA, June 5-8.
3. Shaw KL, Sokolic R, Choi C, Muul L, Carbonaro D, Ikeda A, Smogorzewska M, Jagadeesh J, Garabedian E, Shah A, Kapoor N, Hershfield MS, Candotti F and Kohn DB. (2010) Update on a Clinical Gene Therapy Trial for Adenosine Deaminase Deficient Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (ADA-SCID) Presented at the 13th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy. Washington, DC, May 17- 22.
4. Shaw KL, Sokolic R and Choi C et al. (2009) Immune reconstitution after gene therapy for adenosine deaminase deficient severe combined immune deficiency (ADA-SCID), Presented at the 12th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy. San Diego, California, May 27- 30.
5. Choi C, Cudahy D, Cabonaro D, Li S, Nikoli V, Cotoi D, Crooks G, Kohn DB. (2008) Inhibition of GSK3β in human CD34+ cells activates β-catenin and induces limited cell proliferation, improves survival and promotes maintenance of homing and engraftment. Presented at the 2008 Saban Research Institute 13th Annual Poster Session.
6. Choi C, Kohn DB. (2006) GSK Inhibitor Mediated Hematopoietic Stem Cell Gene Therapy. Presented at the 2006 Saban Research Institute 11th Annual Poster Session.
7.  Kahl CA, Tarantal AF, Lee CI, Jimenez DF, Choi C, Pepper K, Petersen D, Fletcher  MD, Leapley AC, Kohn DB. (2005) Busulfan Dose Escalation to Increase Gene Marking of Hematopoietic Stem Cells by Lentiviral Vectors in Infant Rhesus Monkeys. Mol Therapy, 11, Supplement 1:179
8. Candotti F, Podsakoff G, Schurman SH, Muul LM, Engel BC, Carbonaro DC, Jagadeesh GJ, Hematti P, Tuschong LM, Carter CS, Ramsey WJ, Choi C, Smogorzewska M, Hershfield MS, Read EJ, Tisdale JF, Dunbar CE and Kohn DB. (2003) Corrective gene transfer into hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells for adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency: results in four patients after one year of follow-up. Mol Therapy, 7, 5, Supplement 1: 1163
9. Kohn DB, Podsakoff G, Engel BC, Carbonaro D, Smogorzewska M, Choi C, Muul L, Schurman S, Dunbar C, Weinberg K and Candotti F. (2002) A clinical trial of gene transfer to bone marrow CD34+ cells from ADA-deficient subjects. Presented at the 2003 Keystone IBMTR/ASBMT meeting
10. Candotti F, Podsakoff G, Schurman SH, Muul LM, Engel BC, Carbonaro DA, Jagadeesh GJ, Tuschong LM, Carter CS, Ramsey WJ, Choi C, Smogorzweska M, Hershfield MS, Read EJ, Tisdale JF, Dunbar CE and Kohn DB. (2002) Evaluation of Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) Gene Transfer by Retroviral Vectors for the Treatment of SCID. Blood 100, 11, Supplement 1:428
11. Candotti F, Podsakoff G, Schurman SH, Muul LM, Engel BC, Carbonaro DA, Jagadeesh GJ, Tuschong LM, Carter CS, Ramsey WJ, Bauert G, Guo G, Smogorzweska M, Choi C, Hess RA, Hershfield MS, Read EJ, Tisdale JF, Dunbar CE, Kohn DB. (2002) Clinical evaluation of retroviral vectors for gene therapy of adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency. J Clin Immunol 103, 3:2
12. Candotti F, Podsakoff GM, Schurman SH, Muul LM, Engel BC, Carbonaro DA, Jagadeesh GJ, Tuschong LM, Carter CS, Ramsey WJ, Bauer G, Cho G, Choi C, Smogorzweska M, Hess RA, Hershfield MS, Read EJ, Tisdale JF, Dunbar CE, Kohn DB. (2002) Evaluation of Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) Gene Transfer by Retroviral Vectors for the Treatment of SCID. Mol Therapy Volume 5, Issue 5, Supplement 1:888
13. T. P. Scheett, R. Sufi, C. Choi, H. Bajwa; D. M. Cooper. (1999) Effect of Endurance Type Exercise Training on Proinflammatory Cytokines in Prepubertal Boys. Med. & Science in Sports Exercise Volume 31, Issue 5, Supplement 1:92
14. Scheett, T. P., N. James, R. Sufi, C. Choi and D. M. Cooper. (1999) Endurance type exercise training in prepubertal boys may increase oxygen utilization in exercising muscle. Presented at the 1999 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology meeting, Washington D.C.