About

Overview

The Training Program on Immunobiology of Normal and Neoplastic Lymphocytes is directed by Drs. Warren S. Pear, M.D., Ph.D.  and Malay Haldar, M.D., Ph.D. in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine. There are 36 faculty members who act as trainers on this grant, accepting both pre-doctoral and post-doctoral trainees. Trainees have access to all of the resources of the Perelman School of Medicine and The Wistar Institute and are encouraged to collaborate with both organizations. Only American citizens and resident aliens are eligible for training through this program.

Brief History of this Training Grant

In 1974, the senior staff of UPenn’s Immunobiology Research Division was awarded an NCI-funded program project grant in immunology (CA15822). This considerably strengthened the relationship of this program with the Cancer Center at UPenn, which has been continuously funded with an NCI cancer center core grant (CA16520) since 1974 as well. In 1975, the program project grant (CA15822) was phased out and Dr. Norman Klinman was successfully awarded this institutional training grant in Immunology (CA09140) for training young investigators at both the Predoctoral and Postdoctoral levels. Over the past 50 years, there have been only 5 directors of this continuously funded T32, which has provided tremendous stability.

            Dr. Warren Pear’s leadership of this T32 began in 2005, when he was appointed co-Director under the leadership of Dr. Yvonne Paterson. As Dr. Paterson took on additional leadership responsibilities at UPenn (Dean of Research, School of Nursing), Dr. Pear became the Director in 2010 with Dr. Paterson serving as co-Director. The long-term goal under the direction of Drs. Paterson and Pear was to encourage interdisciplinary research at the nexus of immunology and cancer biology. This direction resulted from Dr. Pear’s expertise in tumor biology and Dr. Paterson’s expertise in tumor immunology. With the rapid change in technologies, especially “omics,” together with the emerging success of tumor immunotherapy in the clinic, the need for interdisciplinary training increased and it remains the focus of the current leadership team. From 2015-2024, Dr. Pear was the Director with Bob Vonderheide serving as the co-Director from 2015-2020, prior to becoming Director of UPenn’s Abramson Cancer Center, and Gregory Beatty, a previous CIMB trainee, served as co-Director from 2020-2024. In 2024, it was decided to move to a multi-PI (MPI) format with Dr. Pear remaining as contact PI and Dr. Malay Halder serving as the additional PI. Dr. Haldar is a tenured Associate Professor and a world leader in cancer immunobiology, who was recruited to UPenn in 2015 following a postdoc with Ken Murphy at Wash U, graduate school in the lab of the Nobel laureate Mario Capecchi at Utah and a Clinical Pathology residency at Wash U.

       Our program alumni have developed into leading scientists and mentors in academia and industry. The track record of this program in training exceptional scientists is reflected in its alumni, who have become stars in cancer-related immunobiology and include Sue Pierce, Mike Cancro, Lou Staudt, Richard Siegal, David Weiner, Dave Allman, Ike Eisenlohr, Ann Marshak-Rothstein, Steve McMahon, Erica Pearce and Gregory Beatty. We anticipate the same for recent alumni (e.g. Avery Posey, Joe Fraietta) who were highly sought after for academic and industry positions.

       In addition to the success of the CIMB trainees, the CIMB faculty have received international recognition for their achievements. These include Drew Weissman’s receipt of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for RNA vaccines as well as the 2022 Breakthrough Prize (and many others), the 2024 Breakthrough Prize to Carl June for CART19, election to the National Academy of Sciences of Shelly Berger, Carl June, Celeste Simon, Nancy Speck and John Wherry, election to the National Academy of Medicine of Robert Vonderheide and John Wherry, and Chris Hunter’s 2025 designation as an AAI Distinguished Fellow. Many other awards have been received by our training faculty. Altogether, the success of the CIMB trainees and mentors over the past 50 years suggest that the future is bright.