Biography
Bojana Gligorijevic, PhD, graduated Chemistry at University of Belgrade with an honors thesis in analytical chemistry. At Georgetown University, Dr. Gligorijevic’s PhD in chemistry took a turn when she first saw a fluorescent microscope. She ended up with a thesis on development of high-resolution 4D spinning disc microscopy tools for studying malaria parasite metabolism. During her postdoctoral training in cancer biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, she continued developing new tools. At the time, she started focusing on intravital imaging in breast cancer mouse models and contributed to the current view of metastatic cascade mechanism in the tumor context. She discovered that invadopodia, tumor cell structures which make holes in the connective tissue, form around blood vessels. By forming holes, invadopodia help cancer cells enter into the blood vessels, causing future metastasis. During her time at Temple, she has been teaching microscopy course called Biophotonics. She is continuing her work on tools, and is collaborating with Fox Chase Cancer Center on developing prognostic markers to stratify breast cancer patients into High- and Low- risk for future metastases. She is currently working on the question how sensory neurons affect invadopodia and metastasis in breast cancer.
Research Interests
- Intravital imaging
- Multiphoton Microscopy
- Machine Learning Image Classification
- Fluorescent Proteins
- Cancer Complexity
- Cell Decision-making
- Extracellular Matrix Remodeling
- Tumor Microenvironments
- Mouse Models of Metastasis
- Invadopodia
- Motility & Invasion.
Courses Taught
Number | Name | Level |
|---|---|---|
BIOE 0856 | Ethical Issues in Biomedical Science, Engineering and Technology | Undergraduate |
BIOE 3725 | Cell Biology for Engineers | Undergraduate |
BIOE 5721 | Cell Biology for Engineers | Graduate |
Selected Publications
Featured
Velazquez-Quesada, I., Allison, K., Alizadeh, V., Tüzel, E., & Gligorijevic, B. (2026). Protocol for fabrication and utilization of the device for axon-cancer cell interaction testing. STAR Protoc, 7(1), 103990. United States. 10.1016/j.xpro.2025.103990
Velazquez-Quesada, I., Alizadeh, V., Allison, K., Belova, E., Kallogjerovic, S., Hesketh, N., Zhang, X., Thomas, G., Tüzel, E., & Gligorijevic, B. (2026). DACIT device for axon cancer cell interaction testing in 2D and 3D. IScience, 29(2), 114557. United States. 10.1016/j.isci.2025.114557
Belova, E., Jarrah, A., Abalakov, G., Karami, A.L., & Gligorijevic, B. (2025). Cell cycle- and EMT-dependent expression of Filip1L controls invadopodia in breast cancer cells. 10.64898/2025.12.05.692654
Kallogjerovic, S., Velázquez-Quesada, I., Hadap, R., & Gligorijevic, B. (2025). Retrograde tracing of breast cancer-associated sensory neurons. J Microsc, 298(2), 232-244. England. 10.1111/jmi.13340
Perrin, L., Belova, E., Bayarmagnai, B., Tüzel, E., & Gligorijevic, B. (2022). Invadopodia enable cooperative invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells. Commun Biol, 5(1), 758. England. 10.1038/s42003-022-03642-z
Recent
Velazquez-Quesada, I., Alizadeh, V., Allison, K., Belova, E., Kallogjerovic, S., Hesketh, N., Zhang, X., Thomas, G., Tuzel, E., & Gligorijevic, B. (2025). Device for Axon - Cancer cell Interaction Testing in 2D & 3D: DACIT. 10.1101/2024.02.26.582218
Wasserman, J.S., Fowle, H., Hashmi, R., Atar, D., Patel, K.R., Yarmahmoodi, A., Macfarlane, A.W., Tan, Y., Cukierman, E., Gligorijevic, B., Karami, A., Whelan, K.A., Campbell, K.S., & Graña, X. (2024). Derivation of human primary prostate epithelial cell lines by differentially targeting the CDKN2A locus along with expression of hTERT. Sci Rep, 14(1), 20409. England. 10.1038/s41598-024-71306-5
Wasserman, J.S., Fowle, H., Hashmi, R., Atar, D., Patel, K., Yarmahmoodi, A., Macfarlane, A.W., Tan, Y., Cukierman, E., Gligorijevic, B., Karami, A., Whelan, K.A., Campbell, K.S., & Graña, X. (2024). Derivation of human primary prostate epithelial cell lines by differentially targeting the CDKN2A locus along with expression of hTERT. Res Sq. United States. 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4294058/v1
Kallogjerovic, S., Velázquez-Quesada, I., Hadap, R., & Gligorijevic, B. (2024). Retrograde tracing of breast cancer-associated sensory neurons. 10.1101/2024.02.26.582088
Ogier, C., Solomon, A.M.C., Lu, Z., Recoules, L., Klochkova, A., Gabitova-Cornell, L., Bayarmagnai, B., Restifo, D., Surumbayeva, A., Vendramini-Costa, D.B., Deneka, A.Y., Francescone, R., Lilly, A.C., Sipman, A., Gardiner, J.C., Luong, T., Franco-Barraza, J., Ibeme, N., Cai, K.Q., Einarson, M.B., Nicolas, E., Efimov, A., Megill, E., Snyder, N.W., Bousquet, C., Cros, J., Zhou, Y., Golemis, E.A., Gligorijevic, B., Soboloff, J., Fuchs, S.Y., Cukierman, E., & Astsaturov, I. (2023). Trogocytosis of cancer-associated fibroblasts promotes pancreatic cancer growth and immune suppression via phospholipid scramblase anoctamin 6 (ANO6). BioRxiv. United States. 10.1101/2023.09.15.557802
Perrin, L. & Gligorijevic, B. (2022). Proteolytic and mechanical remodeling of the extracellular matrix by invadopodia in cancer. Phys Biol, 20(1). England. 10.1088/1478-3975/aca0d8
Perrin, L., Bayarmagnai, B., Tuzel, E., & Gligorijevic, B. (2021). Invadopodia enable cooperative invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells. 10.21203/rs.3.rs-632734/v1
Perrin, L., Belova, E., Bayarmagnai, B., Tüzel, E., & Gligorijevic, B. (2021). Invadopodia enable cooperative invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells. 10.1101/2021.02.13.431047
Firestein, R., Marcinkiewicz, C., Nie, L., Chua, H.K., Quesada, I.V., Torelli, M., Sternberg, M., Gligorijevic, B., Shenderova, O., Schirhagl, R., & Feuerstein, G.Z. (2021). Pharmacodynamic Studies of Fluorescent Diamond Carriers of Doxorubicin in Liver Cancer Cells and Colorectal Cancer Organoids. Nanotechnol Sci Appl, 14, 139-159. New Zealand. 10.2147/nsa.s321725