TITLE:

Decoding the Cancer Conundrum: Unveiling Treatment Response in Immunotherapy through Multifaceted Insights

ABSTRACT:

Predicting responses to cancer immunotherapy has been a significant challenge. Multiple determinants can influence treatment outcomes including tumor architecture, cancer cell intrinsic features, regulatory biology controlled by intricate signaling pathways, host factors and dynamic cellular evolution. Through high-dimensional analyses of tissue specimens, encompassing blood and tumor samples, we are using transcriptional profiling and single-cell cytometric techniques, to gain insights into immune cell subsets, alterations within the tumor microenvironment, and their evolving dynamics that impact treatment responses. Our goal is to integrate genomic and tissue spatial data, establishing predictive baselines, and standardizing analyses to unveil key insights into mechanisms of treatment response and resistance. These studies are poised to illuminate the intersection between computational methods and personalized cancer immunotherapy.

BIO:

Gregory L. Beatty, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine and in the Division of Hematology/Oncology within the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Beatty is Director of Clinical and Translational Research for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Beatty graduated from Bucknell University (Chemical Engineering) and obtained his PhD (Immunology) from the University of Pennsylvania. He then earned his MD from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and completed a residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in medical oncology at the University of Pennsylvania. As an NIH-funded investigator at Penn Medicine, Dr. Beatty directs a discovery laboratory that incorporates both basic science research and clinical investigation to inform the development of novel immunotherapies. Dr. Beatty has led pivotal first-in- human clinical trials investigating CAR T cells for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. He has also led studies investigating strategies to target cancer inflammation, including CD40 agonists and inhibitors of IDO and JAK. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts with senior- or first-author papers in high-impact journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Immunology, and Cancer Discovery. He is internationally recognized for his expertise in pancreas cancer, cancer immunotherapy, and CAR T cells.

Nationally, Dr. Beatty is a member of Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Board of Scientific Advisors. He is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and recipient of several awards from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Stand Up To Cancer, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, Lustgarten Foundation, and Mark Foundation for Cancer Research.