Topic: Developing next-generation T-cell-based cancer immunotherapy using chemical biology approaches
Speaker: Professor WU Peng, Department of Molecular Medicine, Scripps Research Institute (Scripps)
Date and time: 10:00-11:00, November 18
Venue: Auditorium at Y Building
Host: SHUI Wenqing
Biography:
Dr. Wu received his doctorate from the Scripps Research Institute in 2005 under the guidance of Professor K. Barry Sharpless. From August 2005 to September 2008, Dr. Wu was a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Professor Carolyn R. Bertozzi at the University of California, Berkeley. There, he combined his interests in bioorthogonal chemistry and biotechnology by developing a method for site-specific modification of monoclonal antibodies using a genetically encoded aldehyde tag. The research in the Wu laboratory integrates synthetic chemistry with glycobiology to explore the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control immune responses toward cancer and human pathogens. Through detecting endogenous antigen-specific T cells and separating them from bystander T cells, Wu lab has made groundbreaking progresses in understanding the specific roles and functional differences of these two T cell subsets in an immune response, how T cells' reactivity is linked to their functional state, and how to improve persistence and replication potential of antigen-specific T cells for treating infection and cancer.
Dr. Wu has received various awards including 2020 Horace S. Isbell Award (American Chemical Society), 2021 Horizon Prize (the Royal Society of Chemistry) and 2021 Glycobiology Significant Achievement Award (the Society for Glycobiology).
