Description of Research Expertise
Human Cancer Immunology is the focus of our laboratory and clinical efforts.

The development of a systematic approach to identify and validate cancer neoantigens is a primary interest of our research laboratory. In collaboration with experts in cancer genomics, we have created a bioinformatics pipeline to identify tumor-specific missense mutations which encode neoantigenic peptides. Our team has successfully applied this strategy to develop the first test of personalized cancer vaccination in humans with melanoma. Ongoing proof-of-concept trials aim to test neoantigens as targets for various immunotherapy strategies in melanoma and other solid tumors. In particular, our work aims to characterize the functional and phenotypic landscape of vaccine-elicited T cells using molecular technologies.

A related interest is the development of cellular therapies for cancer. We are currently exploring the development of neoantigen-specific T cell therapy for use in patients. We work collaboratively with research groups in order to find novel solutions to overcome the inherent obstacles created by the tumor microenvironment. The long term goal is to advance and test personalized medicine based approaches in cancer patients.