Diallo Lab

Jean-Simon Diallo profile picture

Contact Information

Jean-Simon Diallo
613-737-8899 x 75203
jsdiallo@ohri.ca

Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Centre for Cancer Therapeutics
501 Smyth Road
Box 926
Ottawa, ON
K1H 8L6

ORCID logo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4862-2795

Jean-Simon Diallo

Senior Scientist, Cancer Therapeutics Program
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Associate Scientist, Faculty of Medicine
University of Ottawa

Research Interests

Our research team is interested in the study and development of novel "viral sensitizer" drugs that make cells more susceptible to viruses. Our goal is to better understand and use these small molecules to improve the activity and/or production of diverse virus-based therapeutics, including oncolytic virotherapy, viral vaccines, and gene therapy vectors.

Brief Biography

Dr. Jean-Simon Diallo obtained his Master’s degree in Biochemistry at McGill University in 2003 and his Ph.D in molecular biology at the Université de Montréal in 2008. During his postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Diallo worked on using oncolytic viruses to treat cancer and discovered a host of small molecules that enhance viral infection. He is now a Senior Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa in the department of Biochemistry Microbiology and immunology. Dr. Diallo is an expert in cellular innate immunity and has over a decade of experience in research commercialization and translational development of viral vectors.

Selected Publications

Wong B, Bergeron A, Maznyi G, Ng K, Jirovec A, Birdi HK, Serrano D, Spinelli M, Thomson M, Taha Z, Alwithenani A, Chen A, Lorimer I, Vanderhyden B, Arulanandam R, Diallo JS. Pevonedistat, a first-in-class NEDD8-activating enzyme inhibitor, sensitizes cancer cells to VSVΔ51 oncolytic virotherapy, Mol Ther, 2023 Sep 27: S1525-0016(23)00504-X.

Alluqmani N, Jirovec A, Taha Z, Varette O, Chen A, Serrano D, Maznyi G, Khan S, Forbes NE, Arulanandam R, Auer RC, Diallo JS. Vanadyl sulfate-enhanced oncolytic virus immunotherapy mediates the antitumor immune response by upregulating the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, Front Immunol, 2022 Nov 28;13:1032356.

Taha Z, Arulanandam R, Maznyi G, Godbout E, Carter-Timofte ME, Kurmasheva N, Reinert LS, Chen A, Crupi MJF, Boulton S, Laroche G, Phan A, Rezaei R, Alluqmani N, Jirovec A, Acal A, Fekete EEF, Singaravelu R, Petryk J, Idorn M, Potts KG, Todesco H, John C, Mahoney DJ, Ilkow CS, Giguère P, Alain T, Côté M, Paludan SR, Olagnier D, Bell JC, Azad T, Diallo JS. Identification of FDA-approved bifonazole as a SARS-CoV-2 blocking agent following a bioreporter drug screen, Mol Ther, 2022 Sep 7;30(9):2998-3016.

Tzelepis F, Birdi HK, Jirovec A, Boscardin S, Tanese de Souza C, Hooshyar M, Chen A, Sutherland K, Parks RJ, Werier J, Diallo JS. Oncolytic Rhabdovirus Vaccine Boosts Chimeric Anti-DEC205 Priming for Effective Cancer Immunotherapy. Mol Ther Oncolytics. 2020 Oct 14;19:240-252.

Arulanandam R, Taha Z, Garcia V, Selman M, Chen A, Varette O, Jirovec A, Sutherland K, Macdonald E, Tzelepis F, Birdi H, Alluqmani N, Landry A, Bergeron A, Vanderhyden B, Diallo JS. The strategic combination of trastuzumab emtansine with oncolytic rhabdoviruses leads to therapeutic synergy. Commun Biol. 2020 May 22;3(1):254.

Diseases, conditions and populations of interest





Research and clinical approaches