DATE: Friday, May 19, 2023
TIME: 10:00 PM
VENUE: IMTM Seminary room (No. 1.09)
We would like to invite you to the lecture of Assoc. prof. RNDr. Daniel Smrž, Ph.D. The lecture is called Cellular immunotherapy in the treatment of solid tumors – from benchtop to clinical applications and it focuses on immunotherapy which has become a promising therapeutic modality for multiple cancers. However, its efficacy in the treatment of solid tumors is still disappointing. This disappointing efficacy is caused by solid tumor resistance to immunotherapy via multiple mechanisms. These mechanisms need to be challenged by the cells used for immunotherapy. For that reason, the designs of the cell preparation must incorporate new strategies that can allow the cells to acquire functional phenotypes that can overcome the resistance mechanisms.
The first lecture part will summarize the basis of types of currently used cell-based therapies in cancer treatment, including a short look back into the history of cellular immunotherapy. The second part of the lecture will present both the most common and unique mechanisms of solid tumor resistance to immunotherapy and approaches to identifying these mechanisms. The third part of the lecture will focus on current benchtop (preclinical) designs, their translation to clinics, and possible obstacles standing on the benchtop-to-translation avenues. The fourth part will be dedicated to a short insight into ongoing clinical studies based on cellular immunotherapy in cancer treatment. The fourth (final) part will be dedicated to the discussion with the audience and their own experience in the field of cellular immunotherapy of solid tumors.
The lecture will stem from current literature and the own experience of the research team of the lecturer. The expected lecture time is 90 minutes.
BIO
Daniel Smrž received his master's degree in chemistry/biochemistry at Charles University, Faculty of Science in Prague. His doctoral study was dedicated to molecular mechanisms of mast cell activation at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He later followed this mast cell-oriented research for five years at NIAID/NIH in Bethesda, USA. Since 2013, he has been a leader of the Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Group at the Department of Immunology at Charles University, Second Faculty of Medicine and Motol University Hospital. His research group focuses on the immune microenvironment of solid tumors and the research&development of cell-based therapies for solid tumors.
imunologie.lf2.cuni.cz/en/research/working-groups-and-topics/tumor-immunology
www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniel-Smrz
orcid.org/0000-0003-0143-8744
