Dr. Bruce W. Robinson seeks to identify novel neo-antigens in lung cancer and mesothelioma in order to develop better personalized cancer vaccines for patients.
Personalized vaccines target mutated protein fragments, known as neo-antigens, on the surface of cancer cells. While there are recognized methods and a theoretical framework for identifying and selecting potential neo-antigen targets for vaccines, they are far from optimized. Current approaches only identify a small fraction of the hypothesized pool of immunologic targets. Therefore, Dr. Robinson’s project is identifying novel neo-antigens that arise from DNA mutations that have traditionally been considered “silent” and lacking downstream effects.
Specifically, Dr. Robinson is applying computational modelling to predict the effect of “silent” mutations on the immune-stimulating capacity of neo-antigens. Then, after using a biobank of lung cancer and asbestos-induced mesothelioma samples to validate this strategy, Dr. Robinson plans to use his established animal model system to determine if these new types of neo-antigen are effective as cancer vaccine targets. The intent will be to integrate findings from this study into his ongoing neo-antigen vaccine clinical trial program.
Projects and Grants
Artificial intelligence approaches to potentiate cellular immunotherapies in solid tumors
University of Western Australia | Lung Cancer | 2023
