MedE : EAS Trailblazers Department Seminar
Abstract:
Engineering immune cell into living drug has brought cures to many previously untreatable blood cancers. Yet, their success against solid tumors remains limited— hindered by suboptimal manufacturing and suppression within the tumor microenvironment (TME), both of which demand systems-level solutions. In this talk, I will first address a key manufacturing challenge: the trade-off between T cell quality and quantity. Using genome-scale metabolic modeling, we identified mannose metabolism as a critical control point, enabling enhanced T cell quality without sacrificing quantity. Next, I will focus on the TME which are hostile making even highest qualitied T cells fail. A systems approach uncovered a multifunctional regulator that overcomes multiple dysfunction pathways to sustain T cell activity in TME. Finally, I will present an integration approach of clinical trials and preclinical models using single-cell & spatial multi-omics with in vivo CRISPR screens, revealing a combinatorial engineering strategy that improves efficacy. These underscore my vision to systematically engineer immune cells into transformative therapies for solid tumors—and potentially many other diseases.
More about the Speaker:
Dr. Yapeng Su received his Ph.D. with highest honor from Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in Caltech, co-advised by James Heath and Nobel Laureate David Baltimore where he used systems biology and single-cell tools to study cancer drug resistance. As a postdoc with Leroy Hood, Dr. Su led COVID-19 systems immunology efforts, collaborating with top immunologists Mark Davis, Lewis Lanier, Jeff Bluestone. Now a Damon Runyon and K99 Fellow at Fred Hutch, co-mentored by Philip Greenberg and Raphael Gottardo, he integrates computation and experiments to improve adoptive T cell therapy for solid tumors. Dr. Su has published 34 papers (11 first-author, including Cell, Nature Biotech and Cancer Cell), with coverage in NYT, WSJ, TIME, Nat Geo, and more. He has delivered 23 invited talks, earned 32 honors (e.g., STAT Wunderkind, SITC-Sparkathon Emerging Leader), secured >$2M in funding, and mentored 12 trainees now perusing further education at top programs like UCSF, UC Berkeley, Cambridge, and Yale.