Elvira D’Ippolito – VJRegenMed

Accelerating the identification of clinically relevant T cell therapies

admin_vjr_user — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 17:43:35 +0000

Elvira D’Ippolito, PhD, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany, describes her ongoing research into T cell responses to accelerate the identification of novel, clinically-relevant T cell therapies. She describes the development of functional screening methods based on T cell receptor (TCR) avidity to both identify TCR sequences that can recognize antigens of interest and predict TCR functionality. Dr D’Ippolito is also working on developing approaches to accelerate screening of TCRs to quickly identify lead candidates for clinical application, as well as the optimization of protocols for T cell engineering using non-viral CRISPR-cas9 technology. This interview took place at the International Conference on Lymphocyte Engineering (ICLE) 2022.

Unanswered questions in developing engineered T cells for solid tumors

admin_vjr_user — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 14:46:20 +0000

Elvira D’Ippolito, PhD, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany, discusses barriers in developing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies for solid tumors. Whilst CAR T-cell therapy has demonstrated modest success in treating hematological malignancies, the immunosuppressive microenvironment of solid tumors inhibits T-cell activity by preventing their entry into the tumor. Dr D’Ippolito additionally addresses resistance to CAR T-cell therapies due to antigen escape, as well as suggests strategies to improve T-cells, including co-engineering of the T-cell, improving antigen presentation and multi-specific receptors. This interview took place at the International Conference on Lymphocyte Engineering (ICLE) 2022.

Novel approaches in lymphocyte engineering

Simon Ng — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 14:40:57 +0000

Elvira D’Ippolito, PhD, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany, introduces a poster session that she is chairing at the International Conference on Lymphocyte Engineering (ICLE) 2022 on novel approaches in lymphocyte engineering. In this session, a novel avidity-controlled chimeric antigen receptor (AvidCAR) platform and a nanoparticle-sensitized photoporation approach for the safe engineering of therapeutic cells will be presented. In addition, Dr D’Ippolito describes a novel tumor model in humanized mice for the study of immunotherapy, as well as a study integrating CRISPR-cas9 screening and single-cell RNA sequencing to better understand transcriptional regulators and downstream gene networks in human regulatory T (Treg) cells. This interview took place at ICLE 2022.