Damon Runyon Researchers

CAR T cells, or genetically engineered immune cells, have transformed the treatment of cancer in recent years, achieving cures for many patients who previously faced terminal diagnoses. Despite the remarkable impact that CARs have had on patients and families, however, fewer than 5% of cancer patients currently benefit from these therapies. A major barrier to broader CAR applications lies in the identification of tumor-specific targets: only ~0.00000001% of the cell surface distinguishes tumor cells from healthy cells. To date, CARs have targeted molecules on the surface of tumor cells, but the majority of tumor-specific molecules reside within the cell, where they are inaccessible to conventional CARs. Dr. Yarmarkovich’s team has pioneered a new class of CAR T cells that are able to target key drivers of cancer. These CARs completely eradicate aggressive tumors in preclinical testing and are entering the clinic in 2025. Encouraged by this success, he has proposed three new strategies to comprehensively map the landscape of subtle molecular differences that distinguish tumor cells from healthy cells. He will map the “known unknowns” using cutting-edge technologies for characterizing the surface of tumor cells, as well as the “unknown unknowns” by harnessing the immune system’s intrinsic capacity for identifying foreign targets. The goal of this study is to significantly expand the landscape of actionable immunotherapy targets, paving the way for curative therapies that benefit a much larger population of cancer patients.