Stella Tommasi, PhD

Title(s)Associate Professor of Research Population and Public Health Sciences
SchoolKeck School of Medicine of Usc
AddressNRT 1509C 1450 Biggy Street
Health Sciences Campus
Los Angeles CA 90033
Phone+1 323 442 7753
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    Collapse Overview 
    Collapse Overview
    I am an Associate Professor of Research in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences (PPHS) and a Full Member of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center (NCCC), Genomic and Epigenomic Regulation Program (GER). Research in my laboratory focuses on investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of cancer and other chronic diseases. Specifically, we aim to elucidate how the genome and epigenome are affected by lifestyle (e.g., smoking, vaping, diet) and environmental exposures (e.g., air pollutants, chemical contaminants). Using a combination of novel seq-based omics technologies, classic molecular biology assays, and bioinformatics tools, my group investigates the role played by tobacco toxicants/carcinogens (and environmental pollutants) in the pathogenesis of cancer and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a primary form of liver disease and a growing global epidemic. Characterizing the interaction of genetic, epigenetic, and environmental determinants can provide insights into the complexity and heterogeneity of cancer and NAFLD. Improving our mechanistic understanding of their etiology will be instrumental in developing effective strategies for the prevention, early detection, treatment and monitoring of these diseases.

    Collapse Research 
    Collapse Research Activities and Funding
    Does secondhand smoke induce epigenetic changes?
    University of California Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) TRDRP – 26IP-0051CAug 1, 2020 - Jul 31, 2021
    Role: Principal Investigator
    Does secondhand smoke induce epigenetic changes?
    University of California Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) TRDRP – 26IP-0051Aug 1, 2017 - Jul 31, 2020
    Role: Principal Investigator
    Investigating the carcinogenicity of e-cig
    University of California Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) TRDRP – 25IP-0001Jul 1, 2016 - Jun 30, 2019
    Role: Principal Investigator

    Collapse Bibliographic 
    Collapse Publications
    Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Researchers can login to make corrections and additions, or contact us for help. to make corrections and additions.
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    Altmetrics Details PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
    1. The interplay of DNA damage and repair, gene expression, and mutagenesis in mammalian cells during oxidative stress. Carcinogenesis. 2024 Jul 18. Besaratinia A, Caliri AW, Tommasi S. PMID: 39023127.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:
    2. Vaping Dose, Device Type, and E-Liquid Flavor are Determinants of DNA Damage in Electronic Cigarette Users. Nicotine Tob Res. 2023 05 22; 25(6):1145-1154. Tommasi S, Blumenfeld H, Besaratinia A. PMID: 36780924; PMCID: PMC10202635.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 3     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimals
    3. DNA Hydroxymethylation in Smoking-Associated Cancers. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Feb 28; 23(5). Besaratinia A, Caceres A, Tommasi S. PMID: 35269796; PMCID: PMC8910185.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 4     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    4. Secondhand smoke affects reproductive functions by altering the mouse testis transcriptome, and leads to select intron retention in Pde1a. Environ Int. 2022 03; 161:107086. Tommasi S, Kitapci TH, Blumenfeld H, Besaratinia A. PMID: 35063792; PMCID: PMC8891074.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 1     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCellsPHPublic Health
    5. A novel role for vaping in mitochondrial gene dysregulation and inflammation fundamental to disease development. Sci Rep. 2021 11 23; 11(1):22773. Tommasi S, Pabustan N, Li M, Chen Y, Siegmund KD, Besaratinia A. PMID: 34815430; PMCID: PMC8611078.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 10     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    6. Hydroxychloroquine induces oxidative DNA damage and mutation in mammalian cells. DNA Repair (Amst). 2021 10; 106:103180. Besaratinia A, Caliri AW, Tommasi S. PMID: 34298488; PMCID: PMC8435022.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 3     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCellsPHPublic Health
    7. The consequential impact of JUUL on youth vaping and the landscape of tobacco products: The state of play in the COVID-19 era. Prev Med Rep. 2021 Jun; 22:101374. Besaratinia A, Tommasi S. PMID: 34168950; PMCID: PMC8207461.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 11  
    8. Relationships among smoking, oxidative stress, inflammation, macromolecular damage, and cancer. Mutat Res Rev Mutat Res. 2021 Jan-Jun; 787:108365. Caliri AW, Tommasi S, Besaratinia A. PMID: 34083039; PMCID: PMC8287787.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 116     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimals
    9. Spontaneous and photosensitization-induced mutations in primary mouse cells transitioning through senescence and immortalization. J Biol Chem. 2020 07 17; 295(29):9974-9985. Caliri AW, Tommasi S, Bates SE, Besaratinia A. PMID: 32487750; PMCID: PMC7380187.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 5     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    10. Vaping epidemic: challenges and opportunities. Cancer Causes Control. 2020 Jul; 31(7):663-667. Besaratinia A, Tommasi S. PMID: 32363571; PMCID: PMC7274878.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 16     Fields:    Translation:HumansPHPublic Health
    11. Secondhand Smoke Induces Liver Steatosis through Deregulation of Genes Involved in Hepatic Lipid Metabolism. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Feb 14; 21(4). Tommasi S, Yoon JI, Besaratinia A. PMID: 32075112; PMCID: PMC7072934.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 8     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCellsPHPublic Health
    12. Hypomethylation of LINE-1 repeat elements and global loss of DNA hydroxymethylation in vapers and smokers. Epigenetics. 2020 08; 15(8):816-829. Caliri AW, Caceres A, Tommasi S, Besaratinia A. PMID: 31996072; PMCID: PMC7518689.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 26     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    13. Vaping: A growing global health concern. EClinicalMedicine. 2019 Dec; 17:100208. Besaratinia A, Tommasi S. PMID: 31891141; PMCID: PMC6933142.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 28  
    14. DNA Hydroxymethylation at the Interface of the Environment and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 08 05; 16(15). Tommasi S, Besaratinia A. PMID: 31387232; PMCID: PMC6695744.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 3     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    15. Deregulation of Biologically Significant Genes and Associated Molecular Pathways in the Oral Epithelium of Electronic Cigarette Users. Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Feb 10; 20(3). Tommasi S, Caliri AW, Caceres A, Moreno DE, Li M, Chen Y, Siegmund KD, Besaratinia A. PMID: 30744164; PMCID: PMC6386888.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 34     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    16. The Lambda Select cII Mutation Detection System. J Vis Exp. 2018 04 26; (134). Besaratinia A, Tommasi S. PMID: 29757290; PMCID: PMC6100978.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 3     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    17. Mutation Analysis in Cultured Cells of Transgenic Rodents. Int J Mol Sci. 2018 Jan 16; 19(1). Besaratinia A, Zheng A, Bates SE, Tommasi S. PMID: 29337872; PMCID: PMC5796208.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 2     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    18. A Versatile Assay for Detection of Aberrant DNA Methylation in Bladder Cancer. Methods Mol Biol. 2018; 1655:29-41. Tommasi S, Besaratinia A. PMID: 28889375; PMCID: PMC6340640.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 2     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    19. An opportune and unique research to evaluate the public health impact of electronic cigarettes. Cancer Causes Control. 2017 Oct; 28(10):1167-1171. Besaratinia A, Tommasi S. PMID: 28861656; PMCID: PMC5693655.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 17     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    20. Limited mutagenicity of electronic cigarettes in mouse or human cells in vitro. Lung Cancer. 2017 10; 112:41-46. Tommasi S, Bates SE, Behar RZ, Talbot P, Besaratinia A. PMID: 29191599; PMCID: PMC5726426.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 14     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    21. Expression of epigenetic modifiers is not significantly altered by exposure to secondhand smoke. Lung Cancer. 2015 Dec; 90(3):598-603. Tommasi S, Zheng A, Besaratinia A. PMID: 26525280; PMCID: PMC7849627.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 5     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCellsPHPublic Health
    22. The lingering question of menthol in cigarettes. Cancer Causes Control. 2015 Feb; 26(2):165-169. Besaratinia A, Tommasi S. PMID: 25416451.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 5     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsPHPublic Health
    23. Exposure of mice to secondhand smoke elicits both transient and long-lasting transcriptional changes in cancer-related functional networks. Int J Cancer. 2015 May 15; 136(10):2253-63. Tommasi S, Zheng A, Besaratinia A. PMID: 25346222.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 8     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCellsPHPublic Health
    24. RASSF6 exhibits promoter hypermethylation in metastatic melanoma and inhibits invasion in melanoma cells. Epigenetics. 2014 Nov; 9(11):1496-503. Mezzanotte JJ, Hill V, Schmidt ML, Shinawi T, Tommasi S, Krex D, Schackert G, Pfeifer GP, Latif F, Clark GJ. PMID: 25482183; PMCID: PMC4623409.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 18     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    25. Electronic cigarettes: the road ahead. Prev Med. 2014 Sep; 66:65-7. Besaratinia A, Tommasi S. PMID: 24952095.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 15     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    26. Epigenetics of human melanoma: promises and challenges. J Mol Cell Biol. 2014 Oct; 6(5):356-67. Besaratinia A, Tommasi S. PMID: 24895357.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 20     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    27. Epigenetic targeting of the Nanog pathway and signaling networks during chemical carcinogenesis. Carcinogenesis. 2014 Aug; 35(8):1726-36. Tommasi S, Zheng A, Yoon JI, Besaratinia A. PMID: 24480805.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 13     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    28. Alterations of DNA methylome in human bladder cancer. Epigenetics. 2013 Oct; 8(10):1013-22. Besaratinia A, Cockburn M, Tommasi S. PMID: 23975266; PMCID: PMC3891681.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 28     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    29. Genotoxicity of tobacco smoke-derived aromatic amines and bladder cancer: current state of knowledge and future research directions. FASEB J. 2013 Jun; 27(6):2090-100. Besaratinia A, Tommasi S. PMID: 23449930.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 26     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimals
    30. Mammalian cells acquire epigenetic hallmarks of human cancer during immortalization. Nucleic Acids Res. 2013 Jan 07; 41(1):182-95. Tommasi S, Zheng A, Weninger A, Bates SE, Li XA, Wu X, Hollstein M, Besaratinia A. PMID: 23143272; PMCID: PMC3592471.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 23     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    31. Whole DNA methylome profiling in mice exposed to secondhand smoke. Epigenetics. 2012 Nov; 7(11):1302-14. Tommasi S, Zheng A, Yoon JI, Li AX, Wu X, Besaratinia A. PMID: 23051858; PMCID: PMC3499331.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 13     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCellsPHPublic Health
    32. A high-throughput next-generation sequencing-based method for detecting the mutational fingerprint of carcinogens. Nucleic Acids Res. 2012 Aug; 40(15):e116. Besaratinia A, Li H, Yoon JI, Zheng A, Gao H, Tommasi S. PMID: 22735701; PMCID: PMC3424585.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 17     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    33. New experimental data linking secondhand smoke exposure to lung cancer in nonsmokers. FASEB J. 2012 May; 26(5):1845-54. Kim SI, Yoon JI, Tommasi S, Besaratinia A. PMID: 22318968.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 10     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsPHPublic Health
    34. Organ specificity of the bladder carcinogen 4-aminobiphenyl in inducing DNA damage and mutation in mice. Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2012 Feb; 5(2):299-308. Yoon JI, Kim SI, Tommasi S, Besaratinia A. PMID: 22086680.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 10     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    35. Investigating the epigenetic effects of a prototype smoke-derived carcinogen in human cells. PLoS One. 2010 May 12; 5(5):e10594. Tommasi S, Kim SI, Zhong X, Wu X, Pfeifer GP, Besaratinia A. PMID: 20485678; PMCID: PMC2868871.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 12     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    36. RASSF proteins. Curr Biol. 2010 Apr 27; 20(8):R344-5. Pfeifer GP, Dammann R, Tommasi S. PMID: 21749948.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 6     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    37. Identification of 5 novel genes methylated in breast and other epithelial cancers. Mol Cancer. 2010 Mar 05; 9:51. Hill VK, Hesson LB, Dansranjavin T, Dallol A, Bieche I, Vacher S, Tommasi S, Dobbins T, Gentle D, Euhus D, Lewis C, Dammann R, Ward RL, Minna J, Maher ER, Pfeifer GP, Latif F. PMID: 20205715; PMCID: PMC2841122.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 43     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    38. Tumor suppressor Ras-association domain family 1 isoform A is a novel regulator of cardiac hypertrophy. Circulation. 2009 Aug 18; 120(7):607-16. Oceandy D, Pickard A, Prehar S, Zi M, Mohamed TM, Stanley PJ, Baudoin-Stanley F, Nadif R, Tommasi S, Pfeifer GP, Armesilla AL, Cartwright EJ, Neyses L. PMID: 19652091.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 24     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    39. Methylation of homeobox genes is a frequent and early epigenetic event in breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res. 2009; 11(1):R14. Tommasi S, Karm DL, Wu X, Yen Y, Pfeifer GP. PMID: 19250546; PMCID: PMC2687719.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 75     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    40. RASSF1A is part of a complex similar to the Drosophila Hippo/Salvador/Lats tumor-suppressor network. Curr Biol. 2007 Apr 17; 17(8):700-5. Guo C, Tommasi S, Liu L, Yee JK, Dammann R, Pfeifer GP. PMID: 17379520.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 93     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    41. Involvement of the RASSF1A tumor suppressor gene in controlling cell migration. Cancer Res. 2005 Sep 01; 65(17):7653-9. Dallol A, Agathanggelou A, Tommasi S, Pfeifer GP, Maher ER, Latif F. PMID: 16140931.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 37     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    42. Short hairpin RNA-directed cytosine (CpG) methylation of the RASSF1A gene promoter in HeLa cells. Mol Ther. 2005 Jul; 12(1):179-83. Castanotto D, Tommasi S, Li M, Li H, Yanow S, Pfeifer GP, Rossi JJ. PMID: 15963934.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 60     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    43. The tumor suppressor RASSF1A and MAP-1 link death receptor signaling to Bax conformational change and cell death. Mol Cell. 2005 Jun 10; 18(6):637-50. Baksh S, Tommasi S, Fenton S, Yu VC, Martins LM, Pfeifer GP, Latif F, Downward J, Neel BG. PMID: 15949439.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 77     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    44. Tumor susceptibility of Rassf1a knockout mice. Cancer Res. 2005 Jan 01; 65(1):92-8. Tommasi S, Dammann R, Zhang Z, Wang Y, Liu L, Tsark WM, Wilczynski SP, Li J, You M, Pfeifer GP. PMID: 15665283.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 90     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    45. Control of microtubule stability by the RASSF1A tumor suppressor. Oncogene. 2003 Nov 06; 22(50):8125-36. Liu L, Tommasi S, Lee DH, Dammann R, Pfeifer GP. PMID: 14603253.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 68     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    46. Epigenetic inactivation of RAS association domain family protein 1 (RASSF1A) in malignant cutaneous melanoma. Cancer Res. 2003 Apr 01; 63(7):1639-43. Spugnardi M, Tommasi S, Dammann R, Pfeifer GP, Hoon DS. PMID: 12670917.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 54     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    47. Methylation of the RASSF1A gene in human cancers. Biol Chem. 2002 Jun; 383(6):907-14. Pfeifer GP, Yoon JH, Liu L, Tommasi S, Wilczynski SP, Dammann R. PMID: 12222680.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 43     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    48. RASSF3 and NORE1: identification and cloning of two human homologues of the putative tumor suppressor gene RASSF1. Oncogene. 2002 Apr 18; 21(17):2713-20. Tommasi S, Dammann R, Jin SG, Zhang XF, Avruch J, Pfeifer GP. PMID: 11965544.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 33     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
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