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Experience:10 years Training: Specialist in: Immune ResponseXYZ

In August 2015, I have joined Michael Schmid’s research group to study the immune response to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) in murine primary and metastatic tumours. In this project, we are investigating the cytotoxic T lymphocyte response and the role of other cellular components of immune system, particularly the macrophages in shaping this response. I am using different in vivo and in vitro assays to characterize T cell functions and to test how they affect tumour immunity.

Experience:10 years Training: Specialist in:Immune Cell Populations

My project aims to characterise the tumour microenvironment in metastatic pancreatic cancer. By using flow and mass cytometry, I study different immune cell populations that are present at the metastatic site and how these immune cells contribute to the survival and growth of pancreatic cancer cells. I am trying to identify molecular mechanisms that are involved in the cross-talk between cancer cells and non-malignant stromal cells, and how these interactions impact the response to anti-cancer treatments.

Experience:10 years Training: Specialist in:Cancer Cells interaction

Metastasis is the process were cancer cells spread from a tumour to another organ. During this process the cancer cells must escape from their tumour and survive in the blood. Eventually they become arrested in the small blood vessels of a new organ and they must find a way to enter the tissue and survive in order to grow again and form a metastatic lesion. It has been estimated that cancer cells are continuously escaping the tumour, but only a very small fraction give rise to a metastatic lesion. This highlights the colonisation step as a critical part of the metastatic process.

My work centres on how the cancer cells interact with cells from the immune system and resident cells in the metastatic organ to promote colonisation and metastatic growth with special focus on the metastatic process in pancreatic cancer.

Experience:10 years Training: Specialist in:XYZ

A hallmark of Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the presence of a complex tumour microenvironment that not only constitutes a barrier for infiltration and function of immune effector cells, but also facilitates tumour progression and evasion from the immune surveillance mechanism. The main aim of my project is to characterise T effector cells mediated anti-tumour response in the process of metastatic dissemination of pancreatic cancer cells and to understand which are the mechanisms exploited by cancer cells to hijack the immune system to their own benefit.