Robert Vonderheide, MD, PhD

A promising approach in cancer treatment is to vaccinate patients against molecules expressed by cancer in hopes of starting or awakening an immune response that will kill tumor cells. One leading strategy bases the center of such vaccines on the patient’s own immune cells, which are removed from the body and re-engineered outside the body before re-injection.  

With this grant, we will evaluate a novel gene therapy vaccine specifically designed for children with cancer, for whom very few attempts at cancer vaccination have been undertaken. This work will establish the scientific and manufacturing rationale for translating this gene therapy technology to the clinic, especially for children with cancer.