Professional Overview
Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations
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Scientific Focus
Current Research Interests
My research focuses on understanding the biology of the immune response to cancer. It is becoming clear that the immune system plays an important role in controlling cancer development and modulating cancer growth. Even patients with metastatic cancer can be shown to have an on-going immune response to their cancer. Why the immune response fails to be protective in the cancer patient remains unclear. A better understanding of this fundamental question may lead to improved strategies to manipulate the immune response as novel cancer therapy.
Key questions being pursued:
1. How does the immune system tell a cancer cell from a normal cell?
2. What are the molecular mechanisms by which cancer cells modulate the immune response?
3. How do different treatments - chemotherapy, radiation, transplantation, biotherapies (e.g. IL-2, Interferon, etc.) - impact on the balance between tumor cell proliferation and the immune response?
To address these questions, we are utilizing state-of-the-art technologies such as dendritic cell and T cell cloning, multi-color (up to 11 color) FACS analysis and sorting, peptide/MHC tetramers, and cDNA microarrays. We are also utilizing mathematical models and simulation with supercomputers to gain insights into the dynamics (systems biology) of these responses.
Publications
- Cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses against melanocytes and melanoma. J Transl Med. 2011; (1): 122
- Interferon signaling patterns in peripheral blood lymphocytes may predict clinical outcome after high-dose interferon therapy in melanoma patients. J Transl Med. 2011: 52
- Recommendations from the iSBTc-SITC/FDA/NCI Workshop on Immunotherapy Biomarkers. Clin Cancer Res. 2011; (10): 3064-76
- T cell state transition produces an emergent change detector. J Theor Biol. 2011; (1): 59-69
- Quantitative, architectural analysis of immune cell subsets in tumor-draining lymph nodes from breast cancer patients and healthy lymph nodes. PLoS One. 2010; (8): e12420
- An Interactive Java Statistical Image Segmentation System: GemIdent. J Stat Softw. 2009; (10)
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