Immunotherapeutics Research Cluster.
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Our Vision
The goal is to develop a community focused on designing and developing next generation immunotherapeutics to promote health and prevent and treat disease. We will create a research-to-practice continuum that facilitates this process by linking basic researchers with clinical disease specialists, industry partners and health-care policy experts.
With gratitude, we acknowledge that members of the ImmunoTherapeutics Research Excellence Cluster are located in traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of Indigenous peoples around the province.
ImmunoT is committed to cultivating a culture of equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility. We acknowledge and deeply respect the individual differences, lived experiences, expertise, and knowledge of those within our cluster. We welcome all contributions regardless of age, gender identity or sexual orientation, physical ability, race, religion, ancestry, or culture.
About Us.
It has become increasingly clear that immune and inflammatory cell behaviour and function contribute to all human diseases and normal tissue repair.
Despite this knowledge, immunotherapeutic approaches to improve treatment of acute/chronic disease and tissue maintenance has only recently gained attention beyond the fields of cancer and infectious disease. These translational gaps (“valleys of death”) stem largely from a failure to effectively link four key pillars of the research-to-practice continuum: basic immunologists/researchers, clinical disease specialists, biotech/pharma and health care economics/policy experts.
UBC has outstanding expertise in each of these areas, but we tend to be siloed in a way that impedes translation. Accordingly, we have gathered a cadre of investigators representing each of these pillars to leverage their connections within their communities to develop a new “Immunotherapy cluster (ITC)” that can facilitate identification, rapid translation and clinical adoption of novel therapeutics.
Our Research Focus
Our events include
Join us for these targeted educational sessions led by experts that provide trainees with a scoping understanding of a range of immunological topics from immunometabolism to T cell engineering for cancer.
Held biweekly, these meetings serve as a space for trainees to share research updates, discuss the current status of their ongoing projects, and receive feedback from the community.
In partnership with Canadian Autoimmunity Standardization Core (CAN-ASC), these specialized training sessions will allow participants to engage in a week of lecture-based and hands-on activities to learn techniques such as flow cytometry, CITE-seq, CRISPR/Cas9, activation assays, etc.
Bringing together immunotherapeutics-related researchers, experts, and trainees to present, discuss, and exchange ideas and research findings. Stay tuned, details about this year's symposia to come!
People
Executive Team
Kelly McNagny
Professor, Department of Medical Genetics, Cluster Lead
Pauline Johnson
Co-lead & Professor, Associate Dept. Head of Graduate & Post-Doctoral Fellow Studies, Cluster Lead
Alice Mui
Co-lead & Professor, Associate Professor, Dept. of Surgery and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Cluster Lead
Trainee Committee
Current members: Abishek Wadhwa, Ashina Nagra, Bernice Nicole Ramos, Bita Mogtahedzadeh, Diana Giron-Ceron, Grace Kuo, Kevin Salim, Lorenzo Lindo, Maggie Chopra, Maggie Ma, Nicolette Fonesca, Sam Preshaw, Sanchit Chopra, Sarah McPhedan, Sarah McPhedan, Sonya Mangat, Stephanie Besoiu, Tae Kim
Past members: Emily Mason, Faezeh Borzooee, Liam Mullins, Reyhaneh Jafarirad, Maj Oerum-Madsen Ananya Saraph, Chad Poloni, Morgan Roberts, Rachel Cederberg, Melina Messing
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