Peter Chockley
Ohio State University, OH·Microbiology & Immunology·Early-career
Engineered immune cells can now cure some blood cancers, but they have largely failed against solid tumors. CAR T cells are a patient's own T cells fitted with a synthetic receptor, a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), that points them at cancer.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Biomedical Engineering
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
CAR NK cells
chimeric antigen receptor
natural killer cells
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2028
What they work on
- Develop monomeric chimeric antigen receptors (single-unit CARs with a stable off state) for natural killer cells, adding immune synapse augmentation, to reduce erratic signaling and improve killing of pediatric solid tumor cells.
- Test the hypothesis that CAR NK cells eradicate tumor cells better than CAR T cells while sparing healthy cells, by comparing new CAR designs in functional assays.
- Build a donor selection algorithm for CAR NK cell products by combining in silico protein modeling of NK cell receptors with functional testing of cells from unrelated donors.
More about the research
They can also cause severe and even fatal side effects. This project asks whether natural killer (NK) cells, immune cells that carry built-in receptors for deciding which cells to kill, could be a safer and more effective vehicle for CARs against pediatric solid tumors.
Why it matters
Children with many solid tumors currently cannot be cured, and CAR T cell therapy has largely failed against these cancers while carrying serious risks. Better-designed CAR NK cells and a rational way to choose cell donors could lead to cell therapies with stronger anti-tumor activity and fewer dangerous immune side effects for pediatric solid tumor patients.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Antonia Rotolo
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Microbiology & Immunology
Generate optimized CAR-iNKT cells for solid tumors by pairing high-performing variants of the natural iNKT cell receptor (iTCR) with chimeric antigen receptor constructs that redirect the cells to tumor markers.
Jeffrey Miller
University of Minnesota, MN·Microbiology & Immunology
Engineer iPSC-derived NK (iNK) cells with gene edits that improve homing and migration into tumors, tolerance of low oxygen (hypoxia), and survival after transfer into patients with solid tumors.
Tim Luetkens
University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD·Microbiology & Immunology
Quantify the kinetics and molecular drivers of CAR-mediated trogocytosis, the stripping of target proteins from tumor cells onto CAR T cells, using high-resolution live-cell imaging and combinatorial T cell engineering.
The school
Ohio State University: 71 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 882 research doctorates a year.
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