Supervisor:
Program of Study:
PhD, Microbiology & Immunology
Project Title:
Oncolytic Vesicular Stomatitis Virus expressing FAST proteins combined with NKT cell immunotherapy and immune checkpoint blockade provides therapeutic benefit in a spontaneous mouse model of lung cancer
Research Summary:
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Canada, with a five-year survival rate
less than 19%. Lung cancer is difficult to treat due to its resistance to most drug therapies and the tendency of lung cancers to spread to other regions of the body. Most current treatments have limited benefits and are associated with harmful side effects. Thus, there is need for safer and more effective therapies. Our laboratory is focused on developing therapies that stimulate the immune system to recognize and eliminate cancer cells. Our proposed therapy will activate natural killer T (NKT) cells, a population of immune cells that kill cancer cells and generate signals that direct other immune cells to also recognize the tumour. This will be combined with viruses that have been engineered to specifically target and kill tumour cells but not healthy cells. We will further engineer these viruses to produce proteins that will either help the virus spread better in tumour cells or assist activated NKT cells in recognizing tumour cells. It is expected that our therapies will enhance the ability of the immune system to target tumours, leading to better tumour clearance and survival in lung cancer.
Scholarships and/or Awards:
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- BHCRI DMRF Rosetti CRTP Studentship 2022
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- Cancer Research Training Program (CRTP) Traineeship Award 2020
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- I3V Graduate Studentship 2020 – 2022
Career Aspirations:
After recently transitioning into my PhD, I have begun exploring the efficacy of combining our VSV-FAST constructs with NKT cell immunotherapy as well as immune checkpoint blockade and unravel the roles of NKT cells in lung tumorigenesis. Following my PhD, I intend to pursue a post-doctoral degree or industry position that will provide me with the opportunity of building novel oncolytic virus platforms and evaluating the efficacy of combining these platforms with other modern immunotherapies or chemotherapies in the treatment of other cancers.
Location:
Dalhousie University
Publications:
Jackson, R., Lukacs, J. D., & Zehbe, I. (2020). The potentials and pitfalls of a human cervical organoid model including Langerhans cells. Viruses, 12(12), 1375.
Nelson, A., Lukacs, J. D., & Johnston, B. (2021). The Current Landscape of NKT Cell Immunotherapy and the Hills Ahead. Cancers, 13(20), 5174