Our lab seeks to make basic mechanistic discoveries at the bench, translating these discoveries to clinical trials for patients with cancer. We study abnormal cell stress signaling, metabolism, and organelle dynamics that occur in immune cells regulated by the hostile tumor microenvironment. We repair these dysregulated processes to create novel therapies for cancer. To undertake this research, we use methods such as spectral flow cytometry, multiplex imaging, confocal imaging, RNA-sequencing, single-cell RNA-sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, Seahorse bioanalysis, metabolomics, and proteomics.聽We have partnerships with head and neck cancer, melanoma, sarcoma, and metastatic bone disease oncologists.聽Our students hail from a range of departments including Cell Biology & Physiology, Microbiology & Immunology, and Pharmacology. Projects range from basic mechanism to translational studies and are shaped by the interests of our laboratory members.聽We are聽passionate about exploration of the biology of immune cells in tumors聽to improve therapies for patients with cancer.
Imaging across the tumor microenvironment reveals that T cells localized to hypoxic regions of tumor experience increased stress signaling that limits antitumor function. Graduate student Coral del Mar Alicea Pauneto discovered a way to inhibit the stress signaling pathway to enhance response to cancer immunotherapy.
3-D reconstruction of T cells reveals that the tumor microenvironment enforces dysregulation of endoplasmic reticulum (green) dynamics in T cells in tumors (TIL). Graduate students Andrew Kennedy and Elizabeth Hunt in collaboration with senior scientist Genevieve Clutton identified a way to repair endoplasmic reticulum dynamics, creating a novel therapeutic target for cancer patients. In preparation, 2025.
