Damon Runyon Researchers

The human adaptive immune system continuously surveils for proteins and protein fragments that do not belong. Mutated protein fragments in tumor cells, called neoantigens, form a basis by which the adaptive immune system discriminates between cancer and healthy cells. Delivered therapeutically, neoantigens specific to a tumor can similarly serve as anti-tumor vaccines. Dr. Weinstein has developed a new imaging modality that simultaneously identifies new genetic mutations and physically maps interactions between the cells that possess them. He is working to apply this technology to the identification of tumor-specific therapeutic neoantigens most capable of eliciting immune response.