Specializing In:
- Tumor metabolism
- Immunometabolism
- Stable isotope tracing
Research Interests:
- Cellular metabolic reprogramming
- Metabolic control of anti-tumor immunity
- Adoptive T cell therapies
Biography
Originally from the Greater Toronto Area, I earned my BSc in Molecular Biology and Genetics from McMaster University and my PhD in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto. During my graduate training in the laboratory of Dr. Linda Penn at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, I characterized metabolic dependencies in prostate cancer and multiple myeloma cells and identified existing drugs that could be repurposed to target these vulnerabilities. I subsequently trained in the laboratory of Dr. Russell Jones at Van Andel Institute, where I defined how environmental nutrient availability and T cell-intrinsic metabolic programming control anti-tumor immune responses.
I joined the Department of Immunology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in January 2026 as an Assistant Member and Assistant Professor of Oncology. My laboratory investigates how cancer cells and tumor-resident immune cells sense, compete for, and allocate nutrients within the tumor microenvironment to fuel their metabolism, growth, and function. The overarching goal of my research program is to decipher how metabolism and nutrition shape anti-tumor immunity and tumor progression, and to translate these insights into new strategies for cancer therapy.
Positions
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Assistant Professor of Oncology
- Department of Immunology
Background
Education and Training
- 2020 - PhD - Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- 2014 - BSc - Molecular Biology and Genetics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
Fellowship
- 2020-2026 - Postdoctoral Fellowship, Metabolism and Nutritional Programming, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI
Honors & Awards
- 2025 – Next Generation of Scientists Award, Cancer Research Society
- 2022 – CIHR Fellowship, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
- 2022 – Pathway-to-Independence Postdoctoral Award, Metabolism and Nutrition (MeNu) Program, Van Andel Institute
Publications
1. Oswald BM, DeCamp LM, Longo J, Dahabieh MS, Bunda N, Johnson BK, Watson MJ, Ma S, Preston SEJ, Sheldon RD, Vincent MP, Ellis AE, Soper-Hopper MT, Isaguirre C, Kamarudin D, Shen H, Williams KS, Crawford PA, Kaech S, Jang HJ, Lien EC, Krawczyk CM, Jones RG (2025). Dietary restriction reprograms CD8+ T cell fate to enhance anti-tumour immunity and immunotherapy responses. Nature Metabolism, 7(12):2489-2509.
2. Longo J, Watson MJ, Williams KS, Sheldon RD, Jones RG (2025). Nutrient allocation fuels T cell-mediated immunity. Cell Metabolism 37(12):2311-2322.
3. Longo J, DeCamp LM, Oswald BM, Teis R, Reyes-Oliveras A, Dahabieh MS, Ellis AE, Vincent MP, Damico H, Gallik KL, Foy NM, Compton SE, Capan CD, Williams KS, Esquibel CR, Madaj ZB, Lee H, Roy DG, Krawczyk CM, Haab BB, Sheldon RD, Jones RG (2025). Glucose-dependent glycosphingolipid biosynthesis fuels CD8+ T cell function and tumor control. Cell Metabolism 37(9):1890-1906.
4. Luda KM*, Longo J*, Kitchen-Goosen SM, Duimstra LR, Ma EH, Watson MJ, Oswald BM, Fu Z, Madaj Z, Kupai A, Dickson BM, DeCamp LM, Dahabieh MS, Compton SE, Teis R, Kaymak I, Lau KH, Kelly DP, Puchalska P, Williams KS, Krawczyk CM, Lévesque D, Boisvert FM, Sheldon RD, Rothbart SB, Crawford PA, Jones RG (2023). Ketolysis drives CD8+ T cell effector function through effects on histone acetylation. Immunity 56(9):2021-2035. *equal contribution
5. Longo J, Smirnov P, Li Z, Branchard E, van Leeuwen JE, Licht JD, Haibe-Kains B, Andrews DW, Keats JJ, Pugh TJ, Trudel S, Penn LZ (2021). The mevalonate pathway is an actionable vulnerability of t(4;14)-positive multiple myeloma. Leukemia 35(3):796-808.