Lauren Duhamel (WITTRUP LAB)

Engineering Strategies to Modulate CD45 Signaling for Cancer Immunotherapy

Over the last two decades, cancer immunotherapies have revolutionized cancer treatment by targeting signaling receptors present on lymphocytes. The protein tyrosine phosphatase, CD45, is present on all leukocytes and a critical regulator in immune signal transduction. Here, we leverage multimeric protein engineering to design a recombinant protein capable of modulating CD45 activity, with the aim to promote lymphocyte activation as a novel cancer immunotherapeutic target.

Kwan Yoon (VOIGT LAB)

Engineering Bidirectional Plant-microbe Signaling to Combat Plant Disease

A handful of plant species provide most of the calories consumed by people on earth, but these plants are under constant attack by pests and disease. Modern agricultural practices coupled with climate change invite disease pandemic, so there is a distinct need to develop novel methods to combat plant pathogens. By co-engineering plants and symbiotic bacteria, we can effectively encode complex mechanisms for disease resistance in plants via a microbial proxy—thus gaining access to the advanced engineering tools available in bacteria.