Nia Blunt

Nia Blunt

Biography

Nia Blunt is a rising senior at Albany State University, majoring in Forensic Science
on the pre-med track. She plans to pursue an MD or MD/PhD and is especially interested in
oncology and research that can improve healthcare outcomes in her community. Her research
experience includes projects in dermatological science, electrochemistry, and immunology.
On campus, Nia serves as Honors Council President, is on the executive board of Women in
Pre-Med, and works as a student mentor in the Honors Program. She also volunteers at the
food bank and in other campus service activities. Nia enjoys learning new things, entering new
research environments, and gaining skills that will help her grow as both a future physician
and a researcher. Through medicine and research, she hopes to make a meaningful impact on
healthcare, especially in underserved communities.

Uncovering treatment-specific antigens in NRASmut melanoma
Nia Blunt1,2, Sergio Quispe Sanchez2, and Forest White2
1Department of Natural Sciences, Albany State University
2Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Melanoma is a type of skin cancer initiated by proliferating melanocytes which are the cells that
give the skin its pigmentation. NRAS-mutant melanoma, which is driven by constitutively active
MAPK signaling, affects roughly 15-20% of melanoma patients. This subtype is associated with
a a more aggressive clinical phenotype, including thicker lesions and higher rates of lymph node
metastasis, leaving patients at the advanced stage with few treatment options. The standard of care
for advanced NRAS-mutant melanoma primarily relies on immune checkpoint inhibitors, which
are ineffective in about 50% of cases due to acquired resistance. Recent efforts to profile changes
in the antigen repertoire of NRAS-mutant melanoma have identified antigens induced by targeted
therapy. However, traditional DDA-based workflows may miss a rich source of lower-abundance
or poorly fragmented antigen targets. Combining an untargeted DDA analysis with a targeted PRM
workflow will be able to uncover “hidden” treatment-induced antigens. We used standard cell
culture techniques, immunoprecipitation to isolate pMHC complexes, a dual mass-spectrometry
approach, and R/Python scripts to identify treatment-specific precursors and build an inclusion
list for PRM analysis. This work will add a new set of candidate antigens for cancer vaccines and
T-cell directed immunotherapies.