Irving Lab members

Postdoctoral researcher CONTACT ME

Research interest

I have a long-standing passion for oncology research, with a particular interest for immuno-oncology. In my postdoctoral role, I will focus on bioengineering strategies to improve CAR T-cell homing, persistence, and safety in the context of solid tumors.

Background

I completed my Bachelor’s in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Leeds (UK) during which I undertook a one-year industrial placement at AstraZeneca working on high-throughput oncology co-culture models for drug screening. Following this, I went on to complete my PhD at the Institute of Cancer Research (London, UK), where my research focused on targeting the solid tumor microenvironment with CAR T-cells. As a postdoctoral researcher under the supervision of Dr Melita Irving, part of the Hi-TIDe, I continue to work on strategies to improve CAR T-cell targeting of solid tumors.

Research associate CONTACT ME

Research interest

My research interests are in the development of function and safety enhanced ON/OFF-switch CARs as well as the optimization of gene-engineering strategies such as by CRISPR-Cas9 for the clinical translation of tumor-directed T-cell products.

Background

I did my Master’s in Medical Biotechnology in Milan before undertaking a one-year internship at Texas Children’s hospital to learn about CAR-T cell technologies. On returning to Italy, I pursued a PhD in Immunology. I undertook my postdoctoral studies in Switzerland, in genomics and epigenetics, after which I took up my position as Research associate within the Hi-TIDe.

PhD student CONTACT ME

Research interest

In our group, we pursue innovative ways to improve TCR T cell therapy for clinical application. As a PhD student in the Hi-TIDe, my focus will be on improving the safety and efficacy of currently available therapeutic TCR T cell therapy.  

Background

During my studies in Singapore, I became very interested in translational immunology. I pursued my passion for working in T cell immunotherapy at Duke-NUS medical school. During my research at Duke, I worked on developing a new generation of Armored TCR T cells for treating liver transplant patients with recurrent cancer.

Technician CONTACT ME

Research interest

I am interested in the development of targeted therapies for neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.

Background

My background is the fields of molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry, immunology and animal experimentation. I completed my thesis in the Alzheimer and tauopathies group at the Lille Neuroscience and Cognition Research Centre in France. I subsequently worked in the Neuropathy and neuromodulation laboratory of Pr Nicole Déglon at the CHUV and the group of Dr Olivier Dormond in the Department of visceral Surgery. I joined the Hi-TIDe in 2021.

Technician CONTACT ME

Research interest

I am part of the clinical translation team. My role is to help transition novel engineered T-cell strategies developed in the Hi-TIDe to the GMP facility for patient treatment.

Background 

After graduating from Marseille Luminy, I worked in several labs in France covering broad fields of biology: genetics, development, metabolism and cellular biology. In Switzerland, I was part of the Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences working in the field of diabetes and obesity before joining the T cell engineering group.

Technician CONTACT ME

Research interest

I am interested in the design of DNA constructs for in vitro/in vivo experiments as well as in the production of recombinant proteins (cytokines, decoys, mutants).

Background

My background is in molecular biology, biochemistry, structural biology. I gained my University Diploma in Technology in Bioengineering from the Université de Créteil (France) in 1998 and worked at the CNRS before joining the Hi-TIDe at the University of Lausanne in 2016.

Postdoctoral researcher CONTACT ME

Research interests

The focus of my research is the development of T cells engineered to express rationally optimised tumor-directed TCRs, as well as of novel safety strategies to prevent/control potential off-site, treatment-related toxicities in patients.

Background

After my Bachelor's in Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Democritus University of Thrace (Greece), I obtained my PhD on the generation of improved humanized mouse models for evaluating cancer immunotherapies within Hi-TIDe. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB) in the group of Prs Zoete and Michielin, working under the supervision of Dr Irving within the Hi-TIDe.

Research associate CONTACT ME

Research interest

The focus of my current work is the generation of tumor-specific armored T cells for improving adoptive T cell transfer strategies, using advanced cell engineering tools. These armored T cells have been equipped with membrane-bound and/or soluble therapeutic agents, and endowed with improved immuno-stimulatory properties and superior anti-tumor activity.

Background

I completed my undergraduate studies in molecular biology and genetics at the Democritus University of Thrace before joining the Hi-TIDe for my postgraduate studies. I am currently completing my PhD in the field of cancer immunotherapy at the University of Lausanne, under the supervision of Dr Melita Irving.

Technician CONTACT ME

Research interest

I joined the Hi-TIDe in 2021 to work on the development of engineered T cells for cancer immunotherapy.

Background

After completing my Master’s degree in Biological Engineering at the Polytech Clermont-Ferrand (France) in 2015, I joined Pr Jeffrey’s lab at Stanford University as a Research assistant. While at Stanford, I was involved in a collaboration with a start-up company called Vortex Biosciences and worked on validating Vortex CTC isolation technology. Subsequently, from 2017 to 2021, I was employed as a Research engineer and Scientific writer in the field of preclinical studies in immuno-oncology at Transcure Bioservices in France.

Postdoctoral researcher CONTACT ME

Research interest

I am interested in the study of fundamental immunology (especially immune cell physiology) and molecular biology, and to challenge (old) dogmas/paradigms. My research focus includes the exploration of basic chemical/physical properties (e.g. oxygen tensions, pH, redox), cell signalling, metabolism, and gene-engineering approaches linked to optimise immune responses.

Background

I completed my PhD, exploring how cysteine metabolism impacts immune response to transplantation, in 2011 at INSERM (France). I started a postdoc in 2012 at the University of Geneva to decipher how low oxygen fractions found in the tumor microenvironment impacts the anti-tumor CD8+ T-cell response. I joined the Hi-TIDe in 2016 with the aim of delineating how low pH/acidity disturbs the anti-tumor CD8+ T-cell response: the ultimate goal is to improve cancer immunotherapy efficacy by rendering CD8+ T cells resistant to acidity via gene engineering.