Daniel J. Powell Jr., Ph.D.

Description of Research Expertise

Research Interest: Immunotherapy of Cancer

Keywords: TIL, adoptive immunotherapy, vaccine, gene therapy, immune modulation.

T cell-based immunotherapy has emerged as a promising approach for the treatment of advanced, refractory solid cancer. One obstacle to successful immunotherapy is the lack of highly avid, tumor-reactive T cells in multiple cancers. One current focus of the Powell lab is to generate/isolate high avidity, tumor-reactive T cells for use in adoptive immunotherapy. Our lab explores the use of novel cancer vaccines, the isolation of naturally occurring tumor-reactive T cells from tumor explants and the de novo generation of tumor reactive T cells through novel, sophisticated genetic engineering methods. Current efforts include the following:

1. Active expansion and characterization of Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL) for use in adoptive cell transfer approaches.
2. The use of lenti- and retroviral vectors to convey high avidity tumor antigen recognition to non-reactive T cells via genetic transfer of tumor-reactive T cell receptors or antibody-based chimeric immune receptors.
3. Development of novel therapeutic strategies to direct T cell effector function to tumor cells, while sparing normal tissues.
4. Exploring the impact of novel stimulatory domains on T cell phenotype and function in vitro and in xenogeneic models of human cancer.
5. Development of novel cancer vaccine approaches through genetic engineering of cancer cells and pulsing of dendritic cells with autologous tumor lysate, designed to potentiate adoptive immunotherapy.
6. Host immunomodulation through the manipulation of immunoregulatory cells and molecules to potentiate antitumor T cell responses.
7. Preclinical validations; clinical translation and trial support.
8. Biospecimen Processing and Procurement; viable tumor banking.

Lab Personnel and Associates:
- Evripidis Lanitis, Visiting Ph.D. Candidate
- Rachel Lynn, Ph.D. Candidate
- Dr. Degang Song, Post-doctoral Investigator
- Dr. Kasia Urbanska, Post-doctoral Investigator
- Dr. Qunrui Ye, Senior Research Investigator
- Dr. Mathilde Poussin, Ph.D., Lab Manager
- Andrew Best, Cell Processing Technician
- Tom Garrabrant, Flow Cytometry Technician

Description of Clinical Expertise

Clincal Trial Support:
- Clinical Tumor Tissue Processing
- Preclinical validation
- Clinical cell production
- Tumor cell preparation
- Biospecimen processing & banking
- Immune assessment
- Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) isolation and expansion
- Assistance for protocols involving adoptive immunotherapy, cancer vaccines and gene therapy