Dr. Jean-Simon Diallo obtained his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry with honours in bioinformatics from the University of Ottawa in 2000. He went on to Montreal to pursue a masters’ degree in biochemistry at McGill University where he studied the epigenetic regulation of globin genes with the late Dr. Lee Wall. In 2003, he began his Ph.D in molecular biology at the Université de Montréal, in the laboratory of Drs. Anne-Marie Mes-Masson and Fred Saad. There he studied prognostic markers/models for prostate cancer as well as the use of naturally occurring phytochemicals for prostate cancer therapy. Funded by the Fonds de Recherche en Santé du Quebec (FRSQ) fellowship, he joined Dr. John Bell’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2007, applying his broad expertise and collaborative approach to the field of oncolytic viruses. In Dr. Bell’s group, Dr. Diallo pioneered high-throughput methods to identify compounds that enhance viral replication. Now an Associate Scientist at the OHRI working with a multidisciplinary network of collaborators, he and his team are using medicinal chemistry, mass spectrometry and high-throughput molecular biology approaches to study how “viral sensitizer” drugs work. He is also expanding the scope of application of viral sensitizer drugs, which in addition to oncolytic virotherapy, show tremendous promise in virus/vaccine manufacturing and gene therapy applications.
R Arulanandam, Z Taha, V Garcia, M Selman, O Varette, A Chen, F Tzelepis, E McDonald, B Vanderhyden, JS Diallo, The strategic combination of trastuzumab emtansine with oncolytic rhabdoviruses leads to therapeutic synergy, Commun Biol, 020 May 22;3(1):254.
Gujar S, Bell J, Diallo JS. SnapShot: Cancer Immunotherapy with Oncolytic Viruses.Cell. 2019 Feb 21;176(5):1240-1240.e1.
Phan M, Watson M, Alain T, Diallo J-S, Oncolytic Viruses on Drugs - Achieving Higher Therapeutic Efficacy, ACS Infectous disease, ACS Infect Dis. 2018 Sep 12.
M Selman, P Ou, C Rousso, A Bergeron, R Krishnan, L Pikor, A Chen, BA Keller, Carolina Ilkow, John C. Bell, JS Diallo, Dimethyl Fumarate Potentiates Oncolytic Virotherapy through NF-kB inhibition, Science Translational Medicine, 24 Jan 2018:Vol. 10, Issue 425.
M Selman, C Rousso, A Bergeron , HH Son, R Krishnan, NA El-Sayes, O Varette, A Chen, F Tzelepis, JC Bell, D Crans, JS Diallo, Multi-Modal Potentiation of Oncolytic Virotherapy by Vanadium Compounds, Molecular Therapy, 2017 Oct 24.
F Le Boeuf, M Selman, HH Son, A Chen, F Tzelepis, JC Bell, J Werier, *H Abdelbary, *J-S Diallo, Oncolytic Maraba Virus as Treatment for Sarcoma, Int J Cancer, 2017 Sep 15;141(6):1257-1264.
M-C Bourgeois-Daigneault, DG Roy, LE St-Germain, R Arulanandam, A Pelin, T Falls, V Garcia, J-S Diallo, John C. Bell, Combination of Paclitaxel and MG1 oncolytic virus as a successful strategy for breast cancer treatment, Breast Cancer Res. 2016 Aug 8;18(1):83.
*M Dornan, *R Krishnan, *A Macklin, M Selman, N El Sayes, C Davis, A Chen K Keillor, P Le, C Moi, P Ou, C Pardin, F Le Boeuf, JC Bell, *JC Smith, *J-S Diallo, *CN Boddy, First-in-class small molecule potentiators of cancer virotherapy, Sci Rep. 2016 May 26;6:26786 *equal contribution.
R Arulanandam, C Batenchuk, O Varette, C Zakaria, NE Forbes, C Davis, R Krishnan, V Garcia, R Karmacharya, J Cox, A Sinha, Andrew Babawy, K Waite, E Weinstein, T Falls, A Chen, J Hamill, N Da Silva, DP Conrad1, H Atkins, K Garson, C Ilkow, M Kaern, B Vanderhyden, N Sonenberg, T Alain, F Le Boeuf, JC Bell, JS Diallo, Microtubule Disruption Synergizes with Oncolytic Virotherapy by Inhibiting Interferon Translation and Potentiating Bystander Killing, Nat Commun. 2015 Mar 30;6:6410.
C Ilkow, M Marguerie , C Batenchuk , D Ben Neriah , S Cousineau , T Falls , C Tanese de Souza , F Le Boeuf , R Arulanandam , L Stubbert , S Thorne , P Paramananthan, A Chatterjee , C Addison , D Stojdl , Diallo J-S , B Lichty, JC Bell, Reciprocal cellular cross-talk within the tumor microenvironment promotes oncolytic virus activity, Nat Med. 2015 Apr 20
R Arulanandam, C Batenchuk, FA Angarita Celis, K Ottolino-Perry, S Cousineau, C Ilkow, A Mottashed, E Burgess, T Falls, N De Silva, J Tsang, G Howe, D Conrad, CJ Brietbach, DH Kirn, JS Diallo, B Lichty, C Addison, JA McCart, John C. Bell, VEGF-mediated innate immune suppression sensitizes tumour vasculature to oncolytic virus infection, Cancer Cell, Jul 22 2015
F Le Boeuf*, C Batenchuk*, M Vähä-Koskela, S Breton, D Roy, C Lemay, J Cox, H Abdelbary, T Falls, G Waghray, H Atkins, D Stojd, JS Diallo, M Kaern*, JC Bell*. Model-based Rational Design of an Oncolytic Virus with Improved Therapeutic Potential. Nat Commun. 2013 Jun 14;4:1974.
Diallo JS, Le Boeuf F, Lai F, Cox J, Vaha-Koskela M, Abdelbary H, MacTavish H, Waite K, Falls T, Wang J, Brown R, Blanchard JE, Brown ED, Kirn DH, Hiscott J, Atkins H, Lichty BD, Bell JC. A high-throughput pharmacoviral approach identifies novel oncolytic virus sensitizers. Mol Ther. 2010 Jun;18(6):1123-9.
