Yitong Ma, PhD, Dr. Keith Landesman Memorial Fellow Stanford University Area of Research: Solid Cancers Dr. Yitong Ma is addressing a significant challenge in cancer treatment— delivery of gene-editing material to cancer or immune cells at the right time and in the correct context. Cancers result from the accumulation of gene mutations, and recent advances in CRISPR-based technologies offer potential solutions to rectify these mutations by providing a means to edits specific genes. However, the effective delivery of these tools into cancer or immune cells, with precision in timing and context, remains a challenge. Dr. Ma’s research aims to engineer cells as “smart vehicles” that can actively navigate to cancer sites, make logical decisions based on local environmental cues, and deliver gene-editing materials to specific cell types. The success of this system could open new avenues for applying gene-editing technologies in the treatment of difficult-to-treat solid tumors. Projects and Grants Programmable delivery of therapeutic gene editing molecules by engineered immune cells
