The Program in Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy is focused on understanding the interactions between the host immune system and tumors, and on the discovery and development of clinically effective anti-tumor immunotherapy. The program comprises faculty members whose academic interests are in molecular and cellular immunobiology, medicine, surgery, psychiatry and pathology in the Stanford University School of Medicine. Each faculty member has his or her own independent research program and also works collaboratively with members of both this program and other Cancer Center programs. In addition, each faculty member is active in teaching graduate and medical students, as well as training postdoctoral fellows and residents. These shared responsibilities, along with regular journal clubs, program project review meetings and an annual immunology retreat, help to foster interactions between faculty members in the program. Three complementary approaches are being taken to achieve the three goals of our program: ? To develop new and more precise ways of measuring and monitoring the immune response to tumors in tumor-bearing hosts. ? To develop an understanding of the biochemical and signaling pathways used by T cells and other immune effector cells in both their response to tumors and their cellular trafficking patterns. ? To manipulate cells of the immune system in patients with solid tumors with the goal of utihzing the exquisite specificity of this system to achieve tumor eradication without significant toxicity. Understanding and manipulating the immune response to tumors, particularly solid tumors, is the major unifying research interest of the participants in this Research Program, and our ability to achieve our objectives is highly dependent on both basic and translational investigators from the other Programs in the Cancer Center and on the Shared Resources.
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