Affiliation: Mayo Clinic

Dr. Alanna Maguire is a Research Scientist at Mayo Clinic Arizona, where she leads retrospective translational studies that heavily depend on formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) archival tissues, to study the genomic and transcriptional differences between lymphomas arising in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected and uninfected individuals. Her work employs FFPE derived RNA and DNA, as well as FFPE tissue sections in conjunction with digital gene expression profiling, array comparative genomic hybridization and immunohistochemistry respectively. Together, these methods are helping to provide greater insights into the genomic, transcriptional and protein landscapes that underlie the enhanced aggressive nature of lymphoma arising in the immune impaired environment resulting from HIV infection. Dr. Maguire is also the site PI of the AIDS and Cancer Specimen Resource (ACSR) Technical Core, an NIH funded bio-bank dedicated to the collection and equitable distribution of tissues stemming from HIV associated malignancies, including FFPE tissues. Together, her roles within the ACSR and as an independent investigator confer extensive experience handling FFPE tissues which are renowned for being difficult to work with.