The IMDL is a specialized facility at the UPCI dedicated to the state-of- the-art evaluation of immune responses in patients with cancer and generation of cellular products for therapy. In its functions as Core B for this program, the IMDL will be responsible for generation, evaluation and genetic modification of human dendritic cells (DC) for four the five projects. For Project 1, the IMDL will generate human DC from peripheral blood of normal donors, characterize for the phenotype and function and perform pre-clinical studies of loading them with peptides. For Project 3, the IMDL will generate human DC from peripheral blood of normal donors or patients and attempt to tolerize them through transduction of immunosuppressive genes(e.g., v-IL10, TGF-beta). For Projects 4 and 5, cultured human DC will be pulsed with tumor antigens or peptides and genetically engineered by transfer of CD40L or melanoma-specific antigen genes to optimize co-stimulatory DC functions. Core B will be responsible for procurement and processing of human tissues and body fluids for experimental protocols or for use in clinical trials. I will also prepare autologous DC for human clinical trials under the good laboratory practice and safety conditions acceptable for transfer of ex vivo cellular products to humans.
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