Ashley T. Martino, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
PhD, Genetics / Viral Gene Therapy, University of FloridaBS, Biology, Cal State University NorthridgeAAS, Avionic Electrician, Community College of the Air Force

I grew up in Los Angeles. After graduating high school I joined the Air Force. I served 4 years active duty. I was trained as an electrician and did two tours in Kuwait. I was honorably discharged and then began my training in academia and laboratory research. While studying, I was a Research Assistant in molecular biology and I was also employed as a laboratory assistant in plant genomics at Ceres Inc., Malibu, Ca. Following completion of my Bachelor’s degree, I moved to Gainesville, Fl to work at University of Florida as a Biological Scientist. My job responsibilities were biodistribution / toxicology studies of viral gene therapy vectors in various animal models and human samples collected from clinical trials. In 2003, I began my doctoral training at University of Florida in AAV viral gene therapy. Specifically, I used viral gene therapy to limit lung damage and respiratory infections related to cystic fibrosis. I completed my PhD in Dec 2007 and I began my Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Florida. My post-doc project was to assess both innate and adaptive immune responses to AAV viral gene therapy vectors and develop approaches to overcome immunity to improve long-term viral gene correction. I finished my Post-Doctoral Fellowship in September 2011. I began my career as a Professor and Primary Investigator at St John’s University in January 2012. I continue to operate an AAV viral gene therapy research lab that focuses on improving AAV transduction efficiency and avoiding immune responses. I use hemophilia and COPD animal models for my gene therapy studies. I mentor M.S. and Ph.D. students in Pharmacology and Toxicology. Additionally, I have teaching responsibilities in PharmD, Physician Assistant, Clinical Lab Science and Toxicology programs.

Teaching Interests

Anatomy & Physiology, Pathology, Immunology, Infectious Disease, Public Health, Genetics, Biochemistry

Research Interests

Viral Gene Therapy, How hormones regulate viral gene therapy, Immune responses to viral gene therapy vectors and transgene products, Using viral capsids as drug delivery system.

Courses Taught

PHS 3103 HUMAN ANATOMY& PHYSIOLOGY I

PHS 3504 APPL HUMAN ANATOMY &PHYSIOLOGY

PHS 3507 HUMAN ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY II

TOX 1402L TOXICOGENOMICS LABORATORY

Select Publications

Journal Articles

Carrig, S., Bijjiga, E., Wopat, M. J., and Martino, A. T. (2016). Insulin Therapy Improves Adeno-Associated Virus Transduction of Liver and Skeletal Muscle in Mice and Cultured CellsHuman Gene Therapy.

Rogers, G. L., Martino, A. T., Zolotukhin, I., Ertl, H. C., and Herzog, R. W. (2014). Role of the vector genome and underlying factor IX mutation in immune responses to AAV gene therapy for hemophilia B.Journal of translational medicine. vol. 12, pp. 25.

Basner-Tschakarjan, E., Bijjiga, E., and Martino, A. T. (2014). Pre-Clinical Assessment of Immune Responses to Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) Vectors.Frontiers in immunology. vol. 5, pp. 28.

Martino, A. T., Basner-Tschakarjan, E., Markusic, D. M., Finn, J. D., Hinderer, C., Zhou, S., Ostrov, D. A., Srivastava, A., Ertl, H. C., Terhorst, C., High, K. A., Mingozzi, F., and Herzog, R. W. (2013). Engineered AAV vector minimizes in vivo targeting of transduced hepatocytes by capsid-specific CD8+ T cells.Blood. vol. 121, pp. 2224-33.

Hoffman, B. E., Martino, A. T., Sack, B. K., Cao, O., Liao, G., Terhorst, C., and Herzog, R. W. (2011). Nonredundant roles of IL-10 and TGF-β in suppression of immune responses to hepatic AAV-factor IX gene transfer.Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy. vol. 19, pp. 1263-72.

Martino, A. T., Suzuki, M., Markusic, D. M., Zolotukhin, I., Ryals, R. C., Moghimi, B., Ertl, H. C., Muruve, D. A., Lee, B., and Herzog, R. W. (2011). The genome of self-complementary adeno-associated viral vectors increases Toll-like receptor 9-dependent innate immune responses in the liver.Blood. vol. 117, pp. 6459-68.

Martino, A. T., Mueller, C., Braag, S., Cruz, P. E., Campbell-Thompson, M., Jin, S., and Flotte, T. R. (2011). N-glycosylation augmentation of the cystic fibrosis epithelium improves Pseudomonas aeruginosa clearance.American journal of respiratory cell and molecular biology. vol. 44, pp. 824-30.

Martino, A. T., Herzog, R. W., Anegon, I., and Adjali, O. (2011). Measuring immune responses to recombinant AAV gene transfer.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.). vol. 807, pp. 259-72.

Rogers, G. L., Martino, A. T., Aslanidi, G. V., Jayandharan, G. R., Srivastava, A., and Herzog, R. W. (2011). Innate Immune Responses to AAV Vectors.Frontiers in microbiology. vol. 2, pp. 194.

Martino, A. T., Nayak, S., Hoffman, B. E., Cooper, M., Liao, G., Markusic, D. M., Byrne, B. J., Terhorst, C., and Herzog, R. W. (2009). Tolerance induction to cytoplasmic beta-galactosidase by hepatic AAV gene transfer: implications for antigen presentation and immunotoxicity.PloS one. vol. 4, pp. e6376.

Mueller, C., Braag, S. A., Martino, A. T., Tang, Q., Campbell-Thompson, M., and Flotte, T. R. (2009). The pros and cons of immunomodulatory IL-10 gene therapy with recombinant AAV in a Cftr-/- -dependent allergy mouse model.Gene therapy. vol. 16, pp. 172-83.

Liqun Wang, R., McLaughlin, T., Cossette, T., Tang, Q., Foust, K., Campbell-Thompson, M., Martino, A. T., Cruz, P., Loiler, S., Mueller, C., and Flotte, T. R. (2009). Recombinant AAV serotype and capsid mutant comparison for pulmonary gene transfer of alpha-1-antitrypsin using invasive and noninvasive delivery.Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy. vol. 17, pp. 81-7.

Mueller, C., Torrez, D., Braag, S., Martino, A. T., Clarke, T., Campbell-Thompson, M., and Flotte, T. R. (2008). Partial correction of the CFTR-dependent ABPA mouse model with recombinant adeno-associated virus gene transfer of truncated CFTR gene.The journal of gene medicine. vol. 10, pp. 51-60.

Book Chapters

Martino, A. T., Mueller, C., and Terence, F. (2010). A Brief Guide to Gene Therapy Treatments for Pulm0nary Diseases. In: A Guide to Human Gene Therapy. Hackensack, NJ: World Scienitific . pp. 15.

Others

Martino, A. T. (2015). Promoting St John's University Research .