News

Congrats to Keely Ji who received the UC Davis Research Award for graduating seniors! Keely will be starting at Harvard Immunology as a G1 PhD student in Fall 2022.

The lab was awarded a 2022 Pilot Grant from the Cooperative Centers on Human Immunology for a collaborative project with the Lauer lab as part of the MGH U19. The objective of the CCHI is to support mechanistic and hypothesis-testing studies to understand human immunity applicable to the biodefense effort, studies on immune-mediated diseases, and basic human immunology to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the human immune system. We’re excited about the science this award will support!

We’re excited to have Cansu Yerinde join as a postdoc in the lab! Cansu trained at the Berlin School of Integrative Oncology and Charite Universitätsmedizin Berlin in the lab of Britta Siegmund. During her PhD, she investigated the role of epigenetic regulators in T cells by using a combination of tumor models in mice and genomic approaches. Apart from lab work, Cansu enjoys traveling and hiking.

Sen Lab jointly with the Raje lab receives funding from the Paula and Rodger Riney Foundation – thank you for the support! The Foundation funds scientific research leading to a better understanding and possible cure of multiple myeloma and related cancers.

We’re thrilled to see the 1st paper from the lab as the cover article in the August 2021 issue of Nature Immunology, thanks to the hard work of Kathleen Yates, Genevieve Martin, John Frater, Georg Lauer, and Nick Haining, as well as all other coauthors! Read ACIR’s amazing summary of the paper here.

Yates K.B., Tonnerre P., Martin G.E., Gerdemann U., Al Abosy R., Comstock D.E., Weiss S.A., Wolski D., Tully D.C., Chung R.T., Allen T.M., Kim A.Y., Fidler S., Fox J., Frater J., Lauer G.M., Haining W.N., Sen D.R. Epigenetic scars of CD8+ T cell exhaustion persist after cure of chronic infection in humans. Nat Immunol. 2021 Aug.

Patrick Adolphus, Murphy Kenny, and Keely Ji join the lab for summer 2021. We’re excited to have you all!

The lab was awarded a 2021-2022 HMS research award from the Karin Grunebaum Cancer Research Foundation. The Karin Grunebaum Cancer Research Foundation was established by her husband, Fritz Grunebaum, as a lasting memory to his beloved wife and to help other families dealing with a cancer diagnosis. The Foundation is dedicated to the eradication of each and every type of cancer, and sponsors projects by junior faculty members at Harvard Medical School and Boston University School of Medicine. We’re so grateful for their support!

Alex Chen joins the team as our first postdoc, having receive his Ph.D. at The University of Tokyo and working in the lab of Dr. Kouji Matsushima. Alex studied combination strategies (HMGN1 + CD4 depletion/PD-L1 blockade) to reverse T cell exhaustion and improve T cell-based therapy. Outside the lab, Alex enjoys running, cooking, and traveling. Welcome Alex!

Richard will be working with us as a Research Technologist, after completing his graduate degree at Boston University. He had previously worked at Pfizer studying neurological inflammation in cases of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases through rodent models. Richard enjoys trying new boardgames, perfecting his meatloaf recipe, and taking midnight walks about Brighton. Welcome aboard!

The NextGen Stars program provides an exciting opportunity to increase the visibility of early-career scientists at the AACR Annual Meeting and to support the professional development and advancement of those selected as AACR NextGen Stars.

20/21