Clinical Neuroscience and Neurological Disorders
Dr. P.J. Cimino has joined the NINDS as the Head of the Neuropathology Unit within the Surgical Neurology Branch (SNB). His research incorporates human genetic and mouse model studies to understand drivers of adult diffuse glioma. He is board certified in Anatomic Pathology and Neuropathology and is contributing to the clinical neuropathology/methylation service in the Laboratory of Pathology within the NCI. He graduated from the Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD) at the University of Washington (UW), Seattle.
Following this, he completed a combined Anatomic Pathology Residency and Neuropathology Fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to joining the NINDS, Dr. Cimino was an Assistant Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology on the Physician-Scientist Track at UW, along with being an Affiliate Investigator in the Human Biology Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle. He was also Co-Director of the Neurosurgical Tissue Repository at UW. His research efforts as a PI and Co-I at UW were supported by several NIH extramural funded grants related to molecular neuro-oncology.
The Neuropathology Unit:
The Neuropathology Unit performs both independent and collaborative research related to the characterization and understanding of central nervous system (CNS) disorders. As a part of its mission, the Neuropathology Unit collects and maintains neurosurgical tissue for the Surgical Neurology Branch (SNB) biorepository. This annotated tissue is available for SNB investigators and is also accessible for collaborative research across the NINDS and the NIH.
Under the supervision of Dr. Cimino, the Unit’s primary research efforts are in molecular neuro-oncology, focusing on identifying and characterizing genetic drivers of IDH-wildtype and IDH-mutant adult diffuse gliomas, utilizing both human tissue and genetically engineered mouse models. Most recently, projects have concentrated on identifying and characterizing prognostic somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs), as well as uncovering the biology of novel SCNA-related oncogenes and tumor suppressors in IDH-wildtype glioblastoma and IDH-mutant astrocytoma. An additional active area of investigation includes characterizing developmentally regulated transcription factors in IDH-mutant and 1p/19q-codeleted oligodendroglioma.
Research collaborations occur both within the SNB and NINDS, along with outside academic institutions. Recent collaborative research efforts with Dr. Cimino as co-investigator involve several aspects of brain tumor biology, including characterizing mouse models of fusion-driven brain tumors, investigating mechanisms of dormancy for metastatic carcinoma to the brain, characterizing the response of microtubule inhibiting agents in a mouse model of glioblastoma, developing handheld confocal instruments for improved glioma resection, and validating new techniques of epigenetic testing in glioblastoma. Current collaborative investigations also include applying whole-genome methylation profiling to CNS tumor classification and risk-stratification. The Unit is also available for Neuropathology-related services, such as histopathology-based collaborative research.
Downloadable SNB Biorepository Research Requisition Forms:
Lab Members
Current Members
- Allison Shelbourn, B.S., Research Biologist/Lab Manager
- Nicholas Nuechterlein, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Sumaita Arowa, B.S., NIH Post-bac IRTA
- Vinny Ha, B.S., Post-bac IRTA
- Mia Rivers, B.S., Post-bac IRTA
Lab Alumni
- Kareem Ahmed, SIP Student
- Neriah Alvinez, B.S., Research Biologist
- James Cope, SIP Student
- Nancy A. Edwards, B.A., Research Biologist
- Marsha J. Merrill, Ph.D., Staff Scientist
Select Publications
2025
Singh O, Dampier C, Abdullaev Z, Dazelle K, Chung HJ, Conway K, Camelo-Piragua S, Neill S, Brown D, Nix JS, Giannini C, Macaulay R, Marker D, Skaugen J, Kulich S, Lee H, Aboud O, Pytel P, Borys E, Perry A, Naqib-Osman L, Fernandes IL, Mao Q, Alashari M, Thomas C, Helgager J, Gubbiotti MA, Newman J, Tiwari N, Cimino PJ, Quezado M, Aldape KD, Nasrallah MP (2025)
Diffuse astrocytoma, AYA-type, frequently MAPK-altered: report of 45 patients.
Acta Neuropathol, 149:32. PubMed ID: 40202541
Cook DJ, Trejo-Lopez JA, Pitel BA, Saha N, Koganti T, Hardcastle J, Smoley S, Isaacson M, Gandham M, Sivasankaran G, Dasari S, Fung KM, Powell SZ, Trivedi D, Abdullaev Z, Aldape K, Quezado M, Pratt D, Cimino PJ, Edgar MA, Vaubel RA, Raghunathan A, Giannini C, Jenkins RB, Ida CM (2025)
Expanding the spectrum of TERT promoter mutations in CNS tumors: A case series of non-canonical mutations.
J Neuropathol Exp Neurol, PubMed ID: 40105650
Bonm AV, Rutenberg MS, Therkelsen KE, Herbst J, Sanaf A, Sherwood MA, Rhee JY, McGranahan TM, Cimino PJ, Gonzalez Castro LN, Tsang DS, Karajannis MA, Nagpal S, Amdur RJ, Shih H, Barber J, Taylor LP (2025)
A multi-institutional retrospective cohort of adult-onset medulloblastoma in the modern era.
Neurooncol Adv, 7:vdae231. PubMed ID: 39991182
2024
Chung HJ, Rajan S, Wu Z, Ferrone CK, Raffeld M, Lee I, Gagan J, Dampier C, Abdullaev Z, Tyagi M, Cimino PJ, Quezado M, Aldape K (2024)
MYB/MYBL1-altered gliomas frequently harbor truncations and non-productive fusions in the MYB and MYBL1 genes.
Acta Neuropathol, 148:54. PubMed ID: 39422766
Schmid S, Russell ZR, Yamashita AS, West ME, Parrish AG, Walker J, Rudoy D, Yan JZ, Quist DC, Gessesse BN, Alvinez N, Hill KD, Anderson LW, Cimino PJ, Kumasaka DK, Parchment RE, Holland EC, Szulzewsky F (2024)
ERK signaling promotes resistance to TRK kinase inhibition in NTRK fusion-driven glioma mouse models.
Cell Rep, 43:114829. PubMed ID: 39365700
Nuechterlein N, Cimino S, Shelbourn A, Ha V, Arora S, Rajan S, Shapiro LG, Holland EC, Aldape K, McGranahan T, Gilbert MR, Cimino PJ (2024)
HOXD12 defines an age-related aggressive subtype of oligodendroglioma.
Acta Neuropathol, 148:41. PubMed ID: 39259414
Wu Z, Dazelle K, Abdullaev Z, Chung HJ, Dahiya S, Wood M, Lee H, Lucas CG, Mao Q, Robinson L, Fernandes I, McCord M, Pytel P, Conway KS, Yoda R, Eschbacher JM, Maher OM, Hasselblatt M, Mobley BC, Raisanen JM, Hatanpaa KJ, Byers J, Lehman NL, Cimino PJ, Pratt D, Quezado M, Aldape K (2024)
Papillary tumor of the pineal region: analysis of DNA methylation profiles and clinical outcomes in 76 cases.
Acta Neuropathol Commun, 12:117. PubMed ID: 39014393
Lim S, Kwak M, Kang J, Cesaire M, Tang K, Robey RW, Frye WJE, Karim B, Butcher D, Lizak MJ, Dalmage M, Foster B, Nuechterlein N, Eberhart C, Cimino PJ, Gottesman MM, Jackson S (2024)
Ibrutinib disrupts blood-tumor barrier integrity and prolongs survival in rodent glioma model.
Acta Neuropathol Commun, 12:56. PubMed ID: 38589905
Thirimanne HN, Almiron-Bonnin D, Nuechterlein N, Arora S, Jensen M, Parada CA, Qiu C, Szulzewsky F, English CW, Chen WC, Sievers P, Nassiri F, Wang JZ, Klisch TJ, Aldape KD, Patel AJ, Cimino PJ, Zadeh G, Sahm F, Raleigh DR, Shendure J, Ferreira M, Holland EC (2024)
Meningioma transcriptomic landscape demonstrates novel subtypes with regional associated biology and patient outcome.
Cell Genom,:100566. PubMed ID: 38788713
Nuechterlein N, Shelbourn A, Szulzewsky F, Arora S, Casad M, Pattwell S, Merino-Galan L, Sulman E, Arowa S, Alvinez N, Jung M, Brown D, Tang K, Jackson S, Stoica S, Chittaboina P, Banasavadi-Siddegowda YK, Wirsching HG, Stella N, Shapiro L, Paddison P, Patel AP, Gilbert MR, Abdullaev Z, Aldape K, Pratt D, Holland EC, Cimino PJ (2024)
Haploinsufficiency of phosphodiesterase 10A activates PI3K/AKT signaling independent of PTEN to induce an aggressive glioma phenotype.
Genes Dev, PubMed ID: 38589034
Andreiuolo F, Ferrone CK, Rajan S, Perry A, Guney E, Cham E, Giannini C, Toland A, Willard N, de Souza AS, Dazelle K, Chung HJ, Singh O, Conway K, Coley N, Dampier C, Abdullaev Z, Pratt D, Cimino PJ, Quezado M, Aldape K (2024)
Molecular and clinicopathologic characteristics of CNS embryonal tumors with BRD4::LEUTX fusion.
Acta Neuropathol Commun, 12:42. PubMed ID: 38500181
Donev K, Sundararajan V, Johnson D, Balan J, Chambers M, Paulson VA, Scherpelz KP, Abdullaev Z, Quezado M, Cimino PJ, Pratt D, Valerio E, Alves de Castro JV, Carraro DM, Torrezan GT, Wolff BM, Kulikowski LD, Costa FD, Aldape K, Ida CM (2024)
Diffuse hemispheric glioma with H3 p.K28M (K27M) mutation: Unusual non-midline presentation of diffuse midline glioma, H3 K27M-altered?
J Neuropathol Exp Neurol, PubMed ID: 38447592
2023
Nuechterlein N, Shelbourn A, Cimino PJ (2023)
Whole gain of chromosome 19, not co-gain of chromosomes 19 and 20, characterizes a class of glioblastomas with more favorable outcomes.
J Neuropathol Exp Neurol, 83:53-57. PubMed ID: 37964704
Yoda RA, Cimino PJ (2023)
Classification and Grading of Central Nervous System Tumors According to the World Health Organization 5th Edition.
Semin Neurol, PubMed ID: 37949117
Shelbourn A, Nuechterlein N, Parada CA, Eaton J, Tucker M, Ferreira M, Cimino PJ (2023)
Validating MCM2 as a clinically relevant surrogate immunohistochemical marker for an aggressive meningioma molecular subtype.
J Neuropathol Exp Neurol, PubMed ID: 37837323
Wirsching HG, Felsberg J, Prummer M, Moisoiu V, Lourman R, Hertler C, Antonios M, Cimino PJ, Roth P, Gorlia T, Prins RM, Cloughesy T, Wen PY, Holland EC, Reifenberger G, Weller M (2023)
Spatial immune profiling of glioblastoma identifies an inflammatory, perivascular phenotype associated with longer survival.
Acta Neuropathol, PubMed ID: 37573572
Chatzopoulos K, Hytiroglou P, Charville GW, Toland AMS, Martinez-Lage M, Cimino PJ, Rosenblum MK, Linos K (2023)
When a dermatopathologist encounters the ultra-rare: A case series of superficial soft tissue/cutaneous myxopapillary ependymomas.
J Cutan Pathol, PubMed ID: 37317818
Elmuti L, Amundson J, Oberman E, Kamat A, Sedig L, Lastra RR, Aldape K, Quezado M, Pratt DW, Cimino PJ, Abdullaev Z, Pytel P, Applebaum MA, Bennett JA (2023)
Diffuse Pediatric-type High-grade Glioma Arising in an Ovarian Mature Cystic Teratoma.
Int J Gynecol Pathol, PubMed ID: 37046379
Kim Y, Danaher P, Cimino PJ, Hurth K, Warren S, Glod J, Beechem JM, Zada G, McEachron TA (2023)
Highly Multiplexed Spatially Resolved Proteomic and Transcriptional Profiling of the Glioblastoma Microenvironment Using Archived Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Specimens.
Mod Pathol, 36:100034. PubMed ID: 36788070
Liu Y, Chou FJ, Lang F, Zhang M, Song H, Zhang W, Davis DL, Briceno NJ, Zhang Y, Cimino PJ, Zaghloul KA, Gilbert MR, Armstrong TS, Yang C (2023)
Protein kinase B (PKB/AKT) protects IDH-mutated glioma from ferroptosis via Nrf2.
Clin Cancer Res, PubMed ID: 36648507
2022
Cimino PJ, Ketchum C, Turakulov R, Singh O, Abdullaev Z, Giannini C, Pytel P, Lopez GY, Colman H, Nasrallah MP, Santi M, Fernandes IL, Nirschl J, Dahiya S, Neill S, Solomon D, Perez E, Capper D, Mani H, Caccamo D, Ball M, Badruddoja M, Chkheidze R, Camelo-Piragua S, Fullmer J, Alexandrescu S, Yeaney G, Eberhart C, Martinez-Lage M, Chen J, Zach L, Kleinschmidt-DeMasters BK, Hefti M, Lopes MB, Nuechterlein N, Horbinski C, Rodriguez FJ, Quezado M, Pratt D, Aldape K (2022)
Expanded analysis of high-grade astrocytoma with piloid features identifies an epigenetically and clinically distinct subtype associated with neurofibromatosis type 1.
Acta Neuropathol, PubMed ID: 36271929
Pattwell SS, Arora S, Nuechterlein N, Zager M, Loeb KR, Cimino PJ, Holland NC, Reche-Ley N, Bolouri H, Almiron Bonnin DA, Szulzewsky F, Phadnis VV, Ozawa T, Wagner MJ, Haffner MC, Cao J, Shendure J, Holland EC (2022)
Oncogenic role of a developmentally regulated NTRK2 splice variant.
Sci Adv, 8:eabo6789. PubMed ID: 36206341
Wu Z, Rajan S, Chung HJ, Raffeld M, Panneer Selvam P, Schweizer L, Perry A, Samuel D, Giannini C, Ragunathan A, Frosch MP, Marshall MS, Boué DR, Donev K, Neill SG, Fernandes I, Resnick A, Rood B, Cummings TJ, Buckley AF, Szymanski L, Neto OLA, Zach L, Colman H, Cheshier S, Ziskin J, Tyagi M, Capper D, Abdullaev Z, Cimino PJ, Quezado M, Pratt D, Aldape K (2022)
Molecular and clinicopathologic characteristics of gliomas with EP300::BCOR fusions.
Acta Neuropathol, PubMed ID: 36201019
Szulzewsky F, Arora S, Arakaki AKS, Sievers P, Almiron Bonnin DA, Paddison PJ, Sahm F, Cimino PJ, Gujral TS, Holland EC (2022)
Both YAP1-MAML2 and constitutively active YAP1 drive the formation of tumors that resemble NF2 mutant meningiomas in mice.
Genes Dev, PubMed ID: 36008139
Park JH, Feroze AH, Emerson SN, Mihalas AB, Keene CD, Cimino PJ, de Lomana ALG, Kannan K, Wu WJ, Turkarslan S, Baliga NS, Patel AP (2022)
A single-cell based precision medicine approach using glioblastoma patient-specific models.
NPJ Precis Oncol, 6:55. PubMed ID: 35941215
Dai J, Cimino PJ, Gouin KH, Grzelak CA, Barrett A, Lim AR, Long A, Weaver S, Saldin LT, Uzamere A, Schulte V, Clegg N, Pisarsky L, Lyden D, Bissell MJ, Knott S, Welm AL, Bielas JH, Hansen KC, Winkler F, Holland EC, Ghajar CM (2022)
Astrocytic laminin-211 drives disseminated breast tumor cell dormancy in brain.
Nat Cancer, 3:25-42. PubMed ID: 35121993
2021
Nuechterlein N, Shapiro LG, Holland EC, Cimino PJ (2021)
Machine learning modeling of genome-wide copy number alteration signatures reliably predicts IDH mutational status in adult diffuse glioma.
Acta Neuropathol Commun, 9:191. PubMed ID: 34863298
Wu SJ, Furlan SN, Mihalas AB, Kaya-Okur HS, Feroze AH, Emerson SN, Zheng Y, Carson K, Cimino PJ, Keene CD, Sarthy JF, Gottardo R, Ahmad K, Henikoff S, Patel AP (2021)
Single-cell CUT&Tag analysis of chromatin modifications in differentiation and tumor progression.
Nat Biotechnol, 39:819-824. PubMed ID: 33846646
Nuechterlein N, Li B, Feroze A, Holland EC, Shapiro L, Haynor D, Fink J, Cimino PJ (2021)
Radiogenomic modeling predicts survival-associated prognostic groups in glioblastoma.
Neurooncol Adv, 3:vdab004. PubMed ID: 33615222
2019
Yoda RA, Marxen T, Longo L, Ene C, Wirsching HG, Keene CD, Holland EC, Cimino PJ (2019)
Mitotic Index Thresholds Do Not Predict Clinical Outcome for IDH-Mutant Astrocytoma.
J Neuropathol Exp Neurol, 78:1002-1010. PubMed ID: 31529048
Cimino PJ, Holland EC (2019)
Targeted copy number analysis outperforms histologic grading in predicting patient survival for WHO grades II/III IDH-mutant astrocytomas.
Neuro Oncol, 21:819-821. PubMed ID: 30918961
2018
Cimino PJ, McFerrin L, Wirsching HG, Arora S, Bolouri H, Rabadan R, Weller M, Holland EC (2018)
Copy number profiling across glioblastoma populations has implications for clinical trial design.
Neuro Oncol, 20:1368-1373. PubMed ID: 29982740
Puchalski RB, Shah N, Miller J, Dalley R, Nomura SR, Yoon JG, Smith KA, Lankerovich M, Bertagnolli D, Bickley K, Boe AF, Brouner K, Butler S, Caldejon S, Chapin M, Datta S, Dee N, Desta T, Dolbeare T, Dotson N, Ebbert A, Feng D, Feng X, Fisher M, Gee G, Goldy J, Gourley L, Gregor BW, Gu G, Hejazinia N, Hohmann J, Hothi P, Howard R, Joines K, Kriedberg A, Kuan L, Lau C, Lee F, Lee H, Lemon T, Long F, Mastan N, Mott E, Murthy C, Ngo K, Olson E, Reding M, Riley Z, Rosen D, Sandman D, Shapovalova N, Slaughterbeck CR, Sodt A, Stockdale G, Szafer A, Wakeman W, Wohnoutka PE, White SJ, Marsh D, Rostomily RC, Ng L, Dang C, Jones A, Keogh B, Gittleman HR, Barnholtz-Sloan JS, Cimino PJ, Uppin MS, Keene CD, Farrokhi FR, Lathia JD, Berens ME, Iavarone A, Bernard A, Lein E, Phillips JW, Rostad SW, Cobbs C, Hawrylycz MJ, Foltz GD (2018)
An anatomic transcriptional atlas of human glioblastoma.
Science, 360:660-663. PubMed ID: 29748285
Cimino PJ, Kim Y, Wu HJ, Alexander J, Wirsching HG, Szulzewsky F, Pitter K, Ozawa T, Wang J, Vazquez J, Arora S, Rabadan R, Levine R, Michor F, Holland EC (2018)
Increased HOXA5 expression provides a selective advantage for gain of whole chromosome 7 in IDH wild-type glioblastoma.
Genes Dev, 32:512-523. PubMed ID: 29632085
2017
Cimino PJ, Zager M, McFerrin L, Wirsching HG, Bolouri H, Hentschel B, von Deimling A, Jones D, Reifenberger G, Weller M, Holland EC (2017)
Multidimensional scaling of diffuse gliomas: application to the 2016 World Health Organization classification system with prognostically relevant molecular subtype discovery.
Acta Neuropathol Commun, 5:39. PubMed ID: 28532485