{"id":24744,"date":"2022-09-19T20:17:47","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T00:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cancerresearch.org\/?post_type=cri_scientists&#038;p=24744"},"modified":"2023-07-31T10:01:42","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T14:01:42","slug":"christopher-b-medina-phd","status":"publish","type":"cri_scientists","link":"https:\/\/www.cancerresearch.org\/es\/cri-funded-scientists\/christopher-b-medina-phd","title":{"rendered":"Christopher B. Medina, PhD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Dr. Medina is supported by the CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship&nbsp;to Promote Racial Diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>T cells are immune cells in our body that can kill cells that have become infected&nbsp;or cancerous. However, when they are constantly exposed to a threat, such as cancer, they can get overactivated and then become exhausted and dysfunctional. By blocking immune checkpoints like PD-1, immunotherapy can prevent this exhaustion and enable T cells to eliminate tumors in some patients, but new checkpoint targets are needed to help more patients. To that end, Dr. Christopher Medina\u2014an&nbsp;inaugural fellow in the CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship&nbsp;to Promote Racial Diversity\u2014is exploring new immune checkpoints found on specialized \u201cstem-like\u201d T cells that are critical for anti-cancer immune responses.<br><br>Specifically, Medina seeks to define the mechanisms of two new classes of&nbsp;inhibitory molecules that are predominantly&nbsp;expressed on these stem-like T cells, which were first identified by his postdoctoral sponsor, T cell exhaustion pioneer Dr. Rafi Ahmed. To determine the importance of the different receptors\u2014including a \u2018non-classical\u2019 lipid receptor\u2014he is deleting them individually and then monitoring the impact on cell function&nbsp;and disease control, against both cancer and viruses. Overall, Medina\u2019s research aims to provide insight into two unexplored classes of&nbsp;immune checkpoints and thereby identify potential targets for&nbsp;immunotherapy in the clinic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Projects and Grants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Defining the unique classes of inhibitory receptor molecules during CD8+ T cell exhaustion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Emory University | All Cancers | 2021 | Rafi Ahmed, PhD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Medina is supported by the CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship&nbsp;to Promote Racial Diversity. T cells are immune cells in our body that can kill cells that have become infected&nbsp;or cancerous. However, when [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4917,"template":"","tax_cancer_type":[455],"tax_grant_type":[486],"tax_award_year":[478],"tax_institutions":[518],"tax_location_states":[519],"class_list":["post-24744","cri_scientists","type-cri_scientists","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"scientist_subhead":"CRI-Bristol Myers Squibb Postdoctoral Fellow","quote":"","scientist_last_name":"Medina","show_on_landing":true,"scientist_publish_until":"20250731"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Christopher B. 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