The foundation of the Allison Institute\u2122\u00a0<\/p>\n
The work being done through the\u00a0Allison Institute\u2122\u00a0is\u00a0only possible here at\u00a0UT MD Anderson<\/a>. The Immunotherapy Platform has been able to work on over 150 protocols or projects across 18\u00a0UT MD Anderson\u00a0departments; we have collected over 50,000 tissue samples in those studies.<\/p>\n Because\u00a0UT MD Anderson\u00a0sees so many patients, our doctors get to regularly see the\u00a0rarest<\/a>\u00a0and most complex cancer cases. We can gather enough tissue from a cancer of interest to really understand the effects of\u00a0therapies<\/a>\u00a0on the immune system and the mechanisms of response and resistance. We can then turn around and test these insights rigorously and quickly in the lab, with data eventually translated back to the clinic.<\/p>\n We\u2019re in this era of patients being cured with immune checkpoint therapy because Jim Allison conducted ground-breaking basic science research. It\u2019s basic science that has led us to cure so many cancer patients.<\/p>\n In order to continue to realize the promise of basic science in medicine, the\u00a0Allison Institute\u2122\u00a0is recruiting people from diverse scientific backgrounds in areas such as chemical biology, protein engineering, microbiology, and immunology. We’re not just focused on immunology. We\u2019re enabling cross-disciplinary science.<\/p>\n Thanks to\u00a0UT MD Anderson\u2019s\u00a0collaborative nature, we put physician-scientists next to basic scientists, and we put clinical investigators next to all of them. We can bridge this gap of everything that takes us from the basic science all the way to a novel therapy for our patients.\u00a0<\/p>\n The basic science foundation can be beneficial for so many other disease types that are out there: autoimmune diseases,\u00a0Alzheimer’s disease<\/a>,\u00a0cardiovascular disease<\/a>. Obviously, we\u2019re focused on\u00a0cancer<\/a>, but I do think we\u2019re going to have impact broadly and that is what we should be working toward: how to make the basic science the foundation that leads us to better care for all patients.\u00a0<\/p>\n Advancing\u00a0immunotherapy research through the Allison Institute\u2122\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0Allison Institute\u2122\u00a0has recruited next-generation scientists who are really leading the way in immunotherapy.\u00a0 Here are what a few of them are working on currently:\u00a0<\/p>\n Hojong Yoon, Ph.D.<\/a>, is working on glues that can bring proteins together to manipulate their activities in immune cells and in the cancer. There are certain proteins that you want to come together to form an interaction that allows for a therapeutic response. He\u2019s worked out the chemistry behind how to do that for a wide range of potentially useful targets.<\/p>\n Susan Bullman, Ph.D.<\/a>, is working on understanding the\u00a0microbiome<\/a>\u00a0within tumors and how we can take advantage of that understanding to develop new methods of targeting the\u00a0tumor microbiome<\/a>\u00a0to achieve better therapeutic outcomes.<\/p>\n Sangeeta Goswami, M.D., Ph.D.<\/a>, is developing an understanding of the epigenetic mechanisms of myeloid cells. Although we were very focused on T cells in the beginning, the immune system is very broad and myeloid cells play an important role. Her work is helping us understand how, especially in\u00a0glioblastoma<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0pancreatic cancer<\/a>, myeloid cells have been reprogrammed to suppress the T cell immune response. She\u2019s looking at how we then target those immunosuppressive epigenetic pathways to reignite those suppressed T cell responses.<\/p>\n These individuals and our other\u00a0Allison Institute\u2122\u00a0members are leading brand new ways in which we can get therapies for our patients. We have to support that work. It\u2019s on us now \u2014 all of us \u2014 to collaborate and think of ways we can integrate all these different groups.<\/p>\n And the\u00a0Allison Institute\u2122\u00a0is providing the housing and the home, or safe space, for everybody to work together and do that. It\u2019s the best way we can drive breakthroughs for patients, not only here at\u00a0UT MD Anderson, but everywhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D.<\/a>, is vice president and head of the Allison Institute\u2122.<\/p>\n