Emi Lutz (WITTRUP LAB)

Developing New Ways to Activate cGAS-STING for Cancer Immunotherapy

Injecting molecular danger signals into a tumor can trigger strong anti-tumor immune responses. It is especially promising to activate the cGAS-STING innate immune pathway, which detects the danger signal of cytosolic DNA. Therapeutic activation of this pathway in preclinical models is typically achieved using small molecules that activate STING. We aim to improve the efficacy and toxicity of this therapy by developing new therapeutics that activate the upstream sensor cGAS instead.

Miguel Reyes (BLAINEY LAB)

Multiplexed Enrichment and Genomic Profiling of Peripheral Blood Cells on a Microfluidic Chip

The activity of specific immune cell subsets may help predict the course of disease and response to therapy in certain patient populations, but no efficient approach for profiling cell subsets at high throughput is available today. Here, we present a microfluidic system for sorting immune cells into subsets and profiling their states by gene expression analysis. Our system has the potential to make multiplexed subset analysis routine in many research laboratories and clinical settings by integrating multiple functions in a single device.