Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Upon failure of standard cancer treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy, alternative treatments are essential to cure cancer. Cancer immunotherapy, which is based on increasing the ability of the immune system to fight cancer, has become a promising option to treat cancer. Although the success rates of most immunotherapies remain limited, the scientific community has gathered to study patients that respond positively to immunotherapy. One main insight is that a durable cure of cancer relies on the generation of "long-lasting killer T cells", a group of elite immune cells which can persist and protect against cancer for a longer period. Recently, I collected preliminary evidence that a protein termed "Mst1" is a negative regulator of long-lasting killer T cells and that Mst1 inhibition can empower the immune system to kill cancer cells. My goal is to understand how Mst1 shapes the nature of T cells and whether some other proteins can be exploited to increase the number of long-lasting killer T cells and eliminate tumors. The research outcomes of my project may provide more effective treatment options to people suffering from cancer by improving current immunotherapies.