Supervisor:
Program of Study:
MSc, Microbiology and Immunology
Project Title:
The role of mast cells in STING-mediated ovarian cancer immunotherapy
Research Summary:
Ovarian cancer is a devastating health concern that is commonly diagnosed at advanced stages when the cancer has spread throughout the body. This makes it a difficult disease to treat with current cancer treatments, which highlights the importance for new therapies to be developed. The goal of our research is to create a new way to treat ovarian cancer by using mast cells and the STING pathway. Mast cells are part of our immune system and can produce powerful mediators that affect immune responses and surrounding tissues. The STING pathway is a part of our immune system that is turned on in response to infection and injury. This system produces a wide range of protein messengers which help immune responses fight cancer. We aim to genetically alter mast cells to activate the STING pathway and test its ability to treat ovarian cancer. We hope this approach will boost anti-tumor immune responses and have the potential to reduce tumor progression and improve disease outcome of patients with ovarian cancer.
Scholarships and/or Awards:
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- Cancer Research Training Program (CRTP) Traineeship Award 2023
Location:
Dalhousie University
Recent News:
We have discovered that mast cells, a very powerful immune cell, can be activated by the STING immune defense pathway. We observe that mast cells produce interferons, which are strong protein messengers that boost immune responses against tumors. Additionally, we have successfully genetically altered mast cells to activate and amplify the STING response to enhance anti-tumor responses. Due to the therapeutic potential, we are currently examining the impact of mast cell-specific STING activation on the progression of ovarian cancer using models of disease.