CAR T-cell therapies have transformed cancer treatment, but each treatment is custom-built from a patient\u2019s own cells, making it a slow, expensive, and sometimes inaccessible treatment option. A scalable, off-the-shelf version derived from stem cells could remove these barriers, but current protocols mainly produce CD8+ T cells and fail to generate CD4+ helper T cells, which are key players in long-term anti-tumor immunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Anton Dobrin aims to solve that challenge by evaluating two strategies to induce CD4+ T-cell development: first, by turning specific genes on or off at defined times to guide differentiation; and second, by running a broad genetic screen to uncover previously unknown regulators of CD4 lineage commitment. \u201cMore broadly, my work will establish a new platform on which extensive cell engineering can be performed and validated for safety, allowing for more carefully controlled and more potent cell immunotherapies,\u201d he explains. Dr. Dobrin’s scientific training began in a high school co-op program and led to research in global labs at ETH Zurich and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. \u00abI have been excited by the ability to re-engineer biology since high school,\u00bb he states. In his doctoral work, he devised different strategies for activating T-cell receptor-targeted T-cells that improved anti-tumor efficacy in human cells and preclinical mouse models. Dr. Dobrin is now turning to induced pluripotent stem cells \u2013 cells that have been reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell-like state \u2013 to address accessibility and scalability in immunotherapy, designing truly universal, off-the-shelf cancer treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan Carlos Zu\u00f1iga-Pfl\u00fccker, PhD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Acute lymphocytic leukemia, CAR T-cell therapy, stem cells<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Establishing a genetic engineering strategy to produce iPSC-derived CD4 T cells for off-the-shelf adoptive cell therapies<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CAR T-cell therapies have transformed cancer treatment, but each treatment is custom-built from a patient\u2019s own cells, making it a slow, expensive, and sometimes inaccessible treatment option. A scalable, off-the-shelf version derived […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":35557,"template":"","tax_cancer_type":[455],"tax_grant_type":[486],"tax_award_year":[742],"tax_institutions":[633],"tax_location_states":[503],"class_list":["post-35580","cri_scientists","type-cri_scientists","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"scientist_subhead":"CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellow","quote":"","scientist_last_name":"Dobrin","show_on_landing":true,"scientist_publish_until":"20280629"},"yoast_head":"\nResearch Focus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Projects and Grants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n