Agne Taraseviciute, MD, PhD
Agne Taraseviciute, MD, PhD
Seattle Children's Hospital
Mentor: Leslie Kean, MD, PhD
A Non-Human Primate Model of Immunosuppression-Resistant CAR T Cells: Bringing CARs to the Immediate Post-Transplant Setting
Patients with aggressive leukemia frequently require a bone marrow transplant to achieve a cure. Despite the use of intensive chemotherapy regimens, some patients have a small number of leukemia cells remaining prior to receiving the transplant, which increases the chances that their leukemia will recur. We are interested in harnessing the power of the immune system to fight and destroy any remaining leukemia cells following bone marrow transplant. To accomplish this, we will engineer T cells (a special type of immune cell) to recognize and eliminate leukemia cells and enable them to function even in the presence of strong immunosuppressive medications that are required after bone marrow transplantation to prevent graft versus host disease. Initially, we will be testing these cancer-fighting, immunosuppression-resistant T cells in an animal model, however, we expect that promising results from these studies will soon be translated into clinical trials to provide a chance for a cure for patients with aggressive leukemia who are at high risk of relapse following bone marrow transplant.
Recipient Bio:
Agne Taraseviciute, MD, PhD is in her final year of training as a Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellow at Seattle Children's Hospital/University of Washington. Her scientific curiosity was sparked at a young age by her parents, her mother – a molecular biologist, and her father – a pharmacist, both of whom conducted research in laboratories and brought her along on weekends to "help" with their experiments. A desire to balance science with the humanities led her to study Philosophy and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology (MCDB) at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 2000, she graduated with honors and gained her first exposure to bench science in the laboratory of Mike Klymkowsky, where her work focused on transcription factors regulating neural crest migration in the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis. She was subsequently accepted into the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at University of Colorado Denver, where her scientific focus shifted to cancer biology. Her graduate thesis work utilized 3-D cell culture models to elucidate the role of the extracellular matrix in the pathogenesis of breast cancer, under the mentorship of Dr. Peter Lloyd Jones. She received her PhD degree in 2008 and her MD in 2010. During her clinical rotations, she delighted in taking care of all oncology patients, but children always had a special place in her heart, thus she pursued a residency in Pediatrics at University of Texas Southwestern. During residency, she became fascinated by cancer immunotherapy as a new treatment modality for patients with relapsed or refractory cancers and was excited to learn about translational research that was quickly moving from the bench to the bedside, led by a team headed by Dr. Michael Jensen at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research in Seattle. She started the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program at Seattle Children's Hospital in 2013 and joined the efforts of Dr. Jensen's laboratory to cure cancer using immunotherapy while also partnering with another fantastic mentor, Dr. Leslie Kean. She is currently working on developing non-human primate models of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy in order to improve their efficacy and safety.
January 23, 2017 Update
BIOSKETCH
Dr. Agne Taraseviciute is in her final year of training as a Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellow at Seattle Children's Hospital/University of Washington. Her scientific curiosity was sparked at a young age by her parents, her mother – a molecular biologist, and her father – a pharmacist, both of whom conducted research in laboratories and brought her along on weekends to "help" with their experiments. A desire to balance science with the humanities led her to study Philosophy and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology (MCDB) at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 2000, she graduated with honors and gained her first exposure to bench science in the laboratory of Mike Klymkowsky, where her work focused on transcription factors regulating neural crest migration in the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis. She was subsequently accepted into the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at University of Colorado Denver, where her scientific focus shifted to cancer biology. Her graduate thesis work utilized 3-D cell culture models to elucidate the role of the extracellular matrix in the pathogenesis of breast cancer, under the mentorship of Dr. Peter Lloyd Jones. She received her PhD degree in 2008 and her MD in 2010. During her clinical rotations, she delighted in taking care of all oncology patients, but children always had a special place in her heart, thus she pursued a residency in Pediatrics at University of Texas Southwestern. During residency, she became fascinated by cancer immunotherapy as a new treatment modality for patients with relapsed or refractory cancers and was excited to learn about translational research that was quickly moving from the bench to the bedside, led by a team headed by Dr. Michael Jensen at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research in Seattle. She started the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program at Seattle Children's Hospital in 2013 and joined the efforts of Dr. Jensen's laboratory to cure cancer using immunotherapy while also partnering with another fantastic mentor, Dr. Leslie Kean. She is currently working on developing non-human primate models of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy in order to improve their efficacy and safety.
PROJECT UPDATE
Dr. Taraseviciute's research update will be sent to Strike 3 Foundation in mid-February 2017
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