Leveraging Engineered Cell Therapies for Immune Modulation in Autoimmunity and Organ Transplantation

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

2:30 PM-4:00 PM

BIOMED Seminar

Title:
Leveraging Engineered Cell Therapies for Immune Modulation in Autoimmunity and Organ Transplantation

Speaker:
Vijay Bhoj, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania

Details:
Humoral immunity is critical for host protection. However, in contexts such as autoimmunity and allo-immunity (anti-drug antibodies and transplant rejection), B cells and antibodies can be important pathogenic drivers. B-cell depleting antibodies that represent the core of current standard of care therapeutic approaches to eliminate pathogenic humoral immunity suffer from significant limitations including incomplete B cell depletion.

To address shortcomings of current immunosuppressive therapies, the Bhoj lab leverages the power of engineered T cell immunotherapy, namely CAR and CAR-like T cells for immune modulation. In preclinical models, we investigate the utility of CAR T cells to mitigate transplant rejection. We also develop “next-generation” CAR platforms for more selective immune cell depletion to maximize efficacy while avoiding toxicities that are common to broad immunosuppression. We believe such approaches utilizing engineered cellular immunotherapy offer the exciting potential of curative treatment for a variety of immune-mediated diseases.

Biosketch:
Dr. Bhoj earned his MD and PhD at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas in 2010. There, he studied innate antiviral immunity under the mentorship of Zhijian ‘James’ Chen. He then moved to the University of Pennsylvania, where he completed residency in clinical pathology followed by a fellowship in transfusion medicine. He conducted post-doctoral training with Michael Milone, and during this period he became interested in leveraging an emerging technology, namely CAR T cells, for treatment of conditions beyond oncology. Dr. Bhoj joined the faculty at Penn, where his independent lab continues to develop cell therapies aimed at immune modulation, primarily in the contexts of autoimmunity and transplantation.

Contact Information

Carolyn Riley
cr63@drexel.edu