Damon Runyon Researchers

T cell therapies have led to promising results in treating blood cancers, but new approaches are required to translate these results to solid tumors. In solid tumors, T cells face unique challenges in the tumor microenvironment (TME), which limits the persistence and efficacy of adoptive T cell therapies. In T cell lymphomas (TCLs), tumor cells overcome many of the same challenges through acquired mutations. Fueled by natural selection, tumor mutations produce novel and elegant solutions to address T cell deficits in the TME. Understanding that these modifications may be superior to current bioengineering capabilities, Dr. Devany [Bakewell Foundation Fellow] plans to introduce gain-of-function mutations into therapeutic T cells to grant them the ability to survive, proliferate, and function in the TME. He will determine how each mutation restores different aspects of T cell function, allowing for the design of combinations of mutations that act synergistically. His results will aid in the development of next-generation T cell therapies to cure solid tumors. Dr. Devany received his PhD from University of Chicago, Chicago and his BS from University of California, Santa Barbara.