What the HEK is Immunotherapy?

Patients are the centre of why we do what we do in immunotherapy research - so shouldn’t they have a say?? Well that's where patient engagement in research comes in! It is becoming increasingly common to involve patients throughout the research pipeline since patients provide lived experience that we as scientists often do not see. To discuss how this works, their own personal journey with patient engagement, and how to get involved in patient engagement, either as a scientist or a patient partner, we are joined by two special guests. First, Dr. Manoj Lalu, a scientist and anesthesiologist who has been paving the way of what patient partnerships in research should look like. And second, Nadine, a patient partner in the lab of your host’s Gillian and Grace (Evgin Lab).Nadine and Dr. Lalu mentioned many resources throughout the episode which are provided below:CIHR’s definition of Patient Engagement CIHR’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) - Patient Engagement FrameworkLabPartners (patient engagement in preclinical research) Additionally if you want to learn more - reach out to us and we can connect you with Dr. Lalu and his team!--Interested in learning more about immunotherapy? Check out our other episodes and give us a follow on instagram @wthisimmunotherapy and twitter @WTHisImmunoT! And check out our website ⁠wthisimmunotherapy.com⁠. Or feel free to reach out to us at ⁠wthisimmunotherapy@gmail.com⁠ if you have any questions orideas for episodes!--Creators & Producers: Gillian Savage, Grace Bernard, and Dr. Pauline Loos Podcast Logo is designed by Mia Portelance Music is by Lara Antebi (⁠https://laraantebi.bandcamp.com/⁠)

Vaccines not only prevent infectious diseases - they can also help cure cancer! To learn how this works and all about the field of cancer vaccines we are joined by Dr. Brian Lichty, an associate professor in Medicine at McMaster University. More information of the startup Dr. Lichty talks about can be found on their website: https://espherasynbio.ca/--Interested in learning more about immunotherapy? Check out our other episodes and give us a follow on instagram @wthisimmunotherapy and twitter @WTHisImmunoT! And check out our website ⁠wthisimmunotherapy.com⁠. Or feel free to reach out to us at ⁠wthisimmunotherapy@gmail.com⁠ if you have any questions or any ideas for episodes!--Creators & Producers: Gillian Savage, Grace Bernard, and Dr. Pauline Loos Podcast Logo is designed by Mia Portelance Music is by Lara Antebi (⁠https://laraantebi.bandcamp.com/⁠)

To end off the year Grace and Gillian dive into some of the scientific findings and news they found most interesting in the immunotherapy field for 2024! We hope this gets you excited about the progress of immunotherapy and the many breakthroughs to come! For more information on the immunotherapies discussed here check out the links below: Lifileucel, the first FDA-approved TIL product: https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2024/fda-amtagvi-til-therapy-melanoma CAR T cell therapy for autoimmune disease: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2308917 and https://www.science.org/content/article/breakthrough-cancer-immunotherapy-now-taking-aim-autoimmune-disease 7th approved CAR T cell product (AUCATZYL): https://www.fda.gov/drugs/resources-information-approved-drugs/fda-approves-obecabtagene-autoleucel-adults-relapsed-or-refractory-b-cell-precursor-acute First FDA-approved CAR T cell product for CLL: https://www.lls.org/news/fda-approves-first-car-t-cell-therapy-chronic-lymphocytic-leukemia#:~:text=Rye%20Brook%2C%20N.Y.%2C%20March%2019,not%20responded%20to%20previous%20treatments. Breast cancer vaccine: https://ascopost.com/news/november-2024/breast-cancer-vaccine-could-be-preventive-well-tolerated-in-high-risk-patients/ FDA approval of first TCR therapy for synovial sarcoma (Afami-cel): https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2024/fda-tecelra-synovial-sarcoma-mage-a4 Personalized engineered TCR TIL therapy phase II study: https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/press-releases/2024/personalized-immunotherapy-shrinks-solid-tumors Long term checkpoint blockade therapy followup: https://news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2024/09/long-term-metastatic-melanoma-survival-dramatically-improves-on-immunotherapy -- Interested in learning more about immunotherapy? Check out our other episodes and give us a follow on instagram @wthisimmunotherapy and twitter @WTHisImmunoT! And check out our website ⁠wthisimmunotherapy.com⁠. Or feel free to reach out to us at ⁠wthisimmunotherapy@gmail.com⁠ if you have any questions or any ideas for episodes! -- Creators & Producers: Gillian Savage, Grace Bernard, and Dr. Pauline Loos Podcast Logo is designed by Mia Portelance Music is by Lara Antebi (⁠https://laraantebi.bandcamp.com/⁠)

Last month, Dr. Lee-Hwa Tai taught us about what oncolytic viruses or "OVs" are. So naturally we followed up with a trainee to learn about some cool research going on in the field. Dr. Reza Rezaei, a recent PhD graduate, studied OVs and now is taking it further to learn how we can combine OVs with CAR T/NK cells during a postdoctoral fellowship. In the second half of the episode we are joined by our podcast's own content creator: Lauralie Short. Lauralie did her master's in OV research so her and Grace provide some clarification on some of the more technical and difficult to understand OV topics. -- Interested in learning more about immunotherapy? Check out our other episodes and give us a follow on instagram @wthisimmunotherapy and twitter @WTHisImmunoT! And check out our website ⁠wthisimmunotherapy.com⁠. Or feel free to reach out to us at ⁠wthisimmunotherapy@gmail.com⁠ if you have any questions or any ideas for episodes! -- Creators & Producers: Gillian Savage, Grace Bernard, and Dr. Pauline Loos Podcast Logo is designed by Mia Portelance Music is by Lara Antebi (⁠https://laraantebi.bandcamp.com/⁠)

Some cool and emerging immunotherapies use viruses to kill cancer cells. But what the HEK are viruses and how do they work? In this week’s episode we chat with Trinity Tooley, a graduate student studying viruses at Queen’s University. Trinity helps us break down exactly what viruses are and how they function. So sit back and unlock the wonderful world of viruses with Grace and Trinity! Interested in learning more about immunotherapy? Check out our other episodes and give us a follow on instagram @wthisimmunotherapy and twitter @WTHisImmunoT! And check out our new website wthisimmunotherapy.com. Or feel free to reach out to us at wthisimmunotherapt@gmail.com if you have any questions or any ideas for episodes! Access Transcript here. Creators & Producers: Gillian Savage, Grace Bernard, and Dr. Pauline Loos Podcast Logo is designed by Mia Portelance Music is by Lara Antebi (https://laraantebi.bandcamp.com/)

This month Gillian and Pauline learn all about Tumor infiltrating Lymphocyte (aka TIL) therapy with Dr. Simon Turcotte! Dr. Turcotte is a surgical oncologist at the CHUM Research Centre in Montreal, Quebec, who has a keen interest in TIL therapy. Listen in as we discuss things such as what TIL therapy is, what types of cancer it's been approved for, the TIL therapy scene within Canada, and what Dr. Turcotte researches and how he hopes to bring TIL therapy to Canada through a clinical trial! Below are some useful links if you want to learn more: Lifileucel approval Melinda's story TIL clinical trial in Canada led by Dr. Turcotte Transcript Don't forget to give us a follow on instagram @wthisimmunotherapy or feel free to reach out with questions at wthisimmunotherapy@gmail.com Creators & Producers: Gillian Savage, Grace Bernard, and Dr. Pauline Loos Podcast Logo is designed by Mia Portelance Music is by Lara Antebi (https://laraantebi.bandcamp.com/)

This week we are doing something a bit different - Grace and I sit down with Danielle Eldridge to chat about her experience receiving immunotherapy. About Danielle: Danielle recently graduated in May 2023 with a degree in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University. She grew up in Houston, Texas , works in technical marketing at Siemens, and is a Leukemia survivor. Danielle was diagnosed in June 2023 with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia but is happy to report that as of September 2023 she is in complete remission and is currently undergoing maintenance chemotherapy. Danielle completed 2 rounds of the hyper-CVAD frontline chemotherapy regime and 4 rounds of blinatumomab accompanied by periodic infusions of Rituximab and Inotuzumab. Danielle is currently competing for Visionary of the Year, a 10-week fundraising competition benefiting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She is the youngest candidate this year and 1 of only 3 cancer survivors in her regional division. Danielle would very much appreciate any possible donations to her fundraising page. DONATE HERE:https://pages.lls.org/voy/txg/houston24/deldridge Also, don’t forget to give us a follow on instagram @wthisimmunotherapy! Or feel free to reach out to us at wthisimmunotherapt@gmail.com Creators & Producers: Gillian Savage, Grace Bernard, and Dr. Pauline Loos Podcast Logo is designed by Mia Portelance Music is by Lara Antebi (https://laraantebi.bandcamp.com/)

What the HEK is immunotherapy? With this podcast we are trying to answer that question! Through interviews with professors, students, patients, and other experts in the field we hope to introduce different types of immunotherapy and the research that is ongoing, specifically within the Canadian field. Join us as we try to make immunotherapy more digestible!