Cancer gene therapy the subject of Community of Scholars seminar

“On the Shoulders of Giants: A New Paradigm of Cancer Gene Therapy” is the title of the next UB Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Community of Scholars Seminar.

Timothy P. Cripe, MD, PhD, Chief, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, in Columbus, Ohio, will present his work online via Zoom at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, February 28. Register here to watch the seminar live.

Cripe was invited to speak by Ajay Gupta, MD, MS, Pediatric Oncologist, Roswell Park Oishei Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Program, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Gupta is a member of the 2022 CTSI K Scholar cohort. The Community of Scholars series invites speakers to explore topics addressing health disparities and clinical and translational research.

“Dr. Cripe has been one of the best mentors I have ever had and is truly advancing the science and solving difficult problems in a field of great need — advanced solid tumors and sarcomas,” Gupta says. “His recent work extends into noncancer applications with his creation of long-term on-demand gene expression after adeno-associated virus injection. We are excited and honored to have Dr. Cripe give one of the Community of Scholars lectures this year.”

Cripe’s laboratory focuses on the development and testing of virus-based cancer immunotherapeutics. His team is currently examining molecular and cellular features of various pediatric cancers that determine their response to virus injection and is also pursuing strategies to modulate their response by altering the tumor immune microenvironment.

At the February 28 seminar, Cripe will review advances in cancer immunotherapies highlighting bispecific diabodies and antibodies and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells. In addition, he will review the field of AAV gene therapy for congenital genetic disorders, and then describe how the challenges of cancer immunotherapies can be addressed using AAV gene therapy technologies to achieve off-the-shelf therapies providing long-term therapeutic effects.

In addition, Cripe will describe his work to apply these technologies to target circulating tumor cells to prevent the development of metastases from solid tumors. Read the full seminar abstract here.

For questions about the CTSI Community of Scholars Seminar Series, write to scholar1@buffalo.edu or call 716-829-4718.