Georgia Tech University PS-OP
This project investigates how the tumor microenvironment (TME) impairs in situ interactions of T-cell surface molecules with counter-molecules on the melanoma cells to suppress anti-tumor immunity. Detailed mechanistic understanding will be obtained by an integrated approach that combines physical science (PS) based tools with two complementary pre-clinical mouse models of melanoma T cell immunity, which will be further tested using bio specimens from melanoma patients. The molecular focus is the T-cell receptor (TCR) that initiates the T-cell antigen recognition upon binding to peptide-major histocompatibility complex (pMHC), and the coreceptor CD8 that co-ligates with the pMHC.
Learn More