Grant Award Details

Engineering pluripotent stem cells for universally available, off-the-shelf T cell therapies
Grant Number: 
DISC0-14422
Project Objective: 
  • To demonstrate that regulated expression of chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) and/or transgenic T cell receptors (TCRs) can produce efficient positive selection and differentiation of mature universal CART cells from PSC.
Investigator: 
Name: 
Type: 
PI
Disease Focus: 
Cancer
Human Stem Cell Use: 
iPS Cell
Cell Line Generation: 
iPS Cell
Award Value: 
$1,352,753
Status: 
Pre-Active

Grant Application Details

Application Title: 
  • Engineering pluripotent stem cells for universally available, off-the-shelf T cell therapies
Public Abstract: 

Research Objective

Our goal is to develop new gene editing methods for producing universal, off-the-shelf, therapeutic T cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) that can be applied to a range of diseases.

Impact

We will develop new gene editing approaches to overcome the block to T cell development from iPSC that occurs when key genes are deleted to create universally, immunologically compatible CART cells.

Major Proposed Activities

  • Development of a gene editing strategy to generate mature CART cells from iPSC
  • Development of gene editing strategies to create universal T cells from iPSC for immunotherapy
  • Functional comparisons of T cells produced from iPSC by different experimental approaches
Statement of Benefit to California: 

Approximately 60,000 Californians will die of cancer each year. While exciting successes have been reported using T cell therapy to cure blood cancers, many patients are unable to access this novel therapy and results for solid tumors such as brain cancers are still poor. Our goal is to produce an off-the-shelf universal T cell product from pluripotent stem cells to dramatically expand the reach of this promising therapy.