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SUMMARY:Deciphering and reprogramming the tumor microenvironment
DTSTART:20171004T121500
DTEND:20171004T131500
DTSTAMP:20260407T114628Z
UID:651a34c994dd43fd7ba08a499400f7ee3d9293b512eaa1e19be7ab07
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Michele (Miki) De Palma\, EPFL\nAbstract\nThe field of oncoimm
 unology is experiencing a surge in research interest following the early s
 uccesses of immunotherapies that reinvigorate the anti-tumoral capacity of
  T lymphocytes. However\, a sobering clinical reality is that only a minor
 ity of the patients achieve sustained cancer remissions. Identifying and o
 vercoming the barriers to effective cancer immunotherapy is not only a tim
 ely medical need\, but also an exciting area of basic and pre-clinical res
 earch. While responsiveness to immunotherapy is partly controlled by the i
 ntrinsic immunogenicity of the cancer cells\, the ensemble of non-malignan
 t tumor-associated cells that organize the tumor microenvironment (TME) pr
 ovides a formidable barrier to anti-tumoral T lymphocytes. Charting new vu
 lnerabilities in the TME may\, therefore\, offer complementary parameters 
 for improving the efficacy and applicability of cancer immunotherapies. St
 rategic efforts in my laboratory aim to propel discoveries of poorly under
 stood mechanisms of cancer progression and therapeutic resistance that are
  sustained by the TME. This is achieved by employing genetic cancer models
  and immuno-engineering strategies that enable deciphering and reprogrammi
 ng the interplay between innate immune cells\, angiogenic blood vessels\, 
 and T lymphocytes in tumors. In this seminar\, I will illustrate new strat
 egies based on harnessing or exploiting mechanisms of angiogenic signaling
 \, cell-to-cell communication through extracellular vesicles\, and microRN
 A regulation\, for reprogramming the TME to a form that bolsters anti-tumo
 ral T lymphocytes and the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies.\n \nBio:\nM
 ichele (Miki) De Palma heads the Angiogenesis and Tumor Microenvironment l
 aboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL)\
 , Switzerland.\nMiki obtained his Ph.D. in 2004 from the University of Tur
 in Medical School\, Italy\, where he studied the contribution of bone marr
 ow-derived cells to tumor angiogenesis under the direction of Luigi Naldin
 i. He performed post-doctoral training at the San Raffaele-Telethon Instit
 ute for Gene Therapy\, Milan\, to develop new gene transfer strategies for
  reprogramming tumor-infiltrating monocytes into anti-tumoral immune cells
 . He joined EPFL in 2011\, where he teaches cancer biology. By employing 
 genetic cancer models and cell-engineering strategies based on lentiviral 
 gene transfer\, the De Palma lab investigates the interplay between macrop
 hages\, blood vessels and T cells in tumors\, primarily by focusing on ang
 iogenic signaling\, microRNA regulation\, and secreted exosomes. Miki has 
 co-organized international conferences on tumor immunology and angiogenesi
 s\, and serves on the advisory boards of the scientific journals Science 
 Translational Medicine (AAAS)\, Cell Reports (Cell press)\, BBA - Review
 s on Cancer\, and Cancer Immunology Research (AACR). Miki received two Eur
 opean Research Council (ERC) grants\, in 2009 and 2016. In his spare time\
 , he studies the taxonomy of the African fruit chafers (Cetoniidae).\n\n\n
  
LOCATION:SV 1717 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==SV%201717
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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