Ryann Callaghan
Lab: Diehl Lab
Project: Bacteria regulate tumor immune infiltrate to promote colorectal cancer tumor growth
My research aims to determine how bacteria regulate immune cell migration and dysfunction within tumors. Understanding these mechanisms, will allow us to manipulate the tumor microenvironment to optimize immune infiltration and function to promote anti-tumor immunity.
Jin-gyu Cheong
Lab: Niec Lab
Project: Innate Immune Memory and Tissue Immunity: Exploring HSPC Dynamics in ICI-induced Immune-related Enterocolitis
Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy enhances anti-cancer immunity but frequently leads to immune-related adverse events (irAEs), limiting its clinical application. My research explores how epigenetic memory in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) contributes to irAE susceptibility. Through integrative analysis of circulating HSPCs and immune cells from patient samples, as well as experimental irAE models, I aim to identify predictive biomarkers and therapeutic targets to improve the safety and efficacy of ICI treatment.
Joe Frost
Lab: Rudensky Lab
Project: Early-life and adult origin T regulatory cells during homeostasis and cancer
T regulatory cells suppress life-threatening autoimmunity and inflammation, contribute to tissue physiology including its maintenance and repair, and support cancer progression. This plurality of T regulatory cell function is paralleled by their heterogeneity, including their “life history”. This project explores distinct roles of T regulatory cells generated in early vs. adult life in tumors and inflamed tissue.
Isabella Del Priore
Lab: Lowe Lab
Project: Tumor suppressive role of type I IFNs in pancreatic cancer initiation
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is characterized by a highly immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, which can promote tumor development and resistance to therapies. However, how this immunosuppressive microenvironment forms is poorly understood. This project will study how tumor-derived type I interferons, cytokines that signal to immune cells, suppress pancreatic cancer initiation through remodeling the immune microenvironment.
Siber Fellow
In partnership with the Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at MSK (OCCV), this year the Center for Experimental Immuno-Oncology worked together to select the inaugural recipient of the George R. Siber, MD Fellowship. This fellowship, established through a generous gift from Dr. George Siber—an internationally renowned vaccinologist—supports outstanding graduate students advancing experimental research related to the fast-evolving field of cancer vaccines and precision immuno-oncology.
Lab: David Lab
Project: Leveraging a New Metabolic-Epigenetic Axis to Enhance CAR-T Therapy
Project Description: T cell exhaustion is a major cause of failure for chimeric-antigen T cell therapy which is characterized by decreased T cell function, chromatin remodeling, and increased glycolysis compared to effector T cells. This increase in glycolysis leads to an increase in methylglyoxal, a reactive byproduct of glycolysis capable of non-enzymatically modifying DNA and proteins in a process known as glycation. My research focuses on understanding how histone glycation of T cells affects its function and the role of histone glycation in T cell exhaustion.
Yuzuka Kanno
Lab: Gitlin
Project: Regulation of anti-cancer innate immunity through the non-canonical IKK axis
Designing next-generation cancer immunotherapies requires a deeper understanding of how to sensitize tumors to immune attack. The kinases TBK1 and IKK-epsilon (known as the non-canonical IKKs) have emerged as attractive immunotherapy targets, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. This project will investigate novel mechanistic aspects of non-canonical IKK biology and their implications for cancer immunotherapy.