When they work, engineered immune cells called CAR T cells can beat back even advanced leukemias and lymphomas. But there is a catch. The proteins they sniff out on cancerous cells can also appear on healthy B cells, which make infection-fighting antibodies. The CAR T cells can’t distinguish between friend and foe, so they destroy both. That collateral damage may…
WRF Postdoctoral Fellows are funded for three years at eligible institutions in Washington state to work on ambitious projects addressing major public needs. 2020 Fellows Dr. Daniel Birman, University of Washington Department of Biological Structure Alison Chase, University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory Dr. Rossana Colon-Thillet, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Dr. Cameron Glasscock, University of Washington Department of Biochemistry…
Dr. Greenberg’s research has focused on elucidating fundamental principles of T-cell and tumor interactions; developing cellular and molecular approaches to manipulate T-cell immunity; and translating insights to the clinic enabling adoptive therapy with genetically engineered T cells. Internationally recognized as a leader in the cancer immunology field, his laboratory performed some of the earliest studies focused on how immune T…
A team led by two UW researchers has found that a transplant drug with anti-aging properties can regenerate bone and decrease gum inflammation, pointing the way toward new treatments for common dental problems in aging patients. Dr. Jonathan An and Dr. Matt Kaeberlein of the School of Dentistry, along with their colleagues across the country, have been studying rapamycin. Rapamycin…
Stephanie Lee, MD, MPH, a highly regarded expert in graft-versus-host disease as well as blood and bone marrow diseases, will serve as president of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) for a year-long term through December 2020. Dr. Lee is a member and associate director of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, where she…
Life Science Washington, the state’s life science trade association, announced the addition of three new board members in 2020, and new leadership on the Executive Committee. Margaret McCormick, PhD, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, and Vice President of Research for Virginia Mason Medical Center will serve as Board Chair for 2020-2022. She…
For 20 years, the U.S. government has urged companies, universities, and other institutions that conduct clinical trials to record their results in a federal database, so doctors and patients can see whether new treatments are safe and effective. Few trial sponsors have consistently done so, even after a 2007 law made posting mandatory for many trials registered in the database.…
Below are summaries of recentFred Hutch research findings with links for additional background and media contacts. Immunotherapy Scientists show thin metal mesh loaded with T cells shrinks solid tumors What if a metal that’s already used to repair broken bones, straighten teeth and keep arteries from clogging could also be used to stop your cancer from spreading? New findings…
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has produced remarkable anti-tumor responses in patients with B-cell malignancies. However, clonal kinetics and transcriptional programs that regulate the fate of CAR-T cells after infusion remain poorly understood. Here we perform TCRB sequencing, integration site analysis, and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to profile CD8+ CAR-T cells from infusion products (IPs) and blood of patients undergoing…
A new technique reported in Science this week overcomes several limitations of typical high-throughput chemical screens conducted on cell samples. Such screens are commonly used to try to discover new cancer drugs, and in many other biomedical applications. Most current screens of this nature offer either a coarse readout, such as of cell survival, proliferation or alterations in cell shapes, or only a…
