Damon Runyon Researchers

In the past decade, new therapies that train the immune system to recognize and kill tumor cells have revolutionized cancer care. Unfortunately, immunotherapies have been largely ineffective in pediatric solid tumors, including osteosarcoma, the most common bone cancer. Dr. Smith aims to understand why immunotherapies have failed by studying a mouse model closely resembling human osteosarcoma. Importantly, these mice have an intact immune system, unlike models that transplant human tumors into mice. By combining complex modeling with single cell and spatial techniques, Dr. Smith hopes to uncover barriers to immune control of osteosarcoma and identify potential therapeutic approaches. Based on these findings, he plans to test novel immunotherapies in the mouse model to prepare for the next generation of osteosarcoma human clinical trials. Dr. Smith received his MD and PhD from the University of California, San Francisco and his BA from Harvard College, Cambridge.