CONTRIBUTION. Sukanya Raghavan, Associate Professor at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, will shortly take a sabbatical from the Sahlgrenska Academy, to work at Merck Research Laboratories in Palo Alto, California. Her position as guest researcher in the US is funded by contributions from SSF’s call in the strategic mobility.
What does the mobility grant mean for your research and for you?
The Mobility grant from SSF gives me the opportunity to spend 12 months at the Department of Immunology, Merck Research Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA and bring back to the academy cutting edge research experience from working in the industry. It will also help me to strengthen existing contacts and make new ones, which will be useful when I get back. My area of expertise is infection immunology, inflammation and immune regulation. So the sabbatical will also be an excellent opportunity for me to establish contact with scientists working in my area of interest; both at Merck Research Laboratories and Academic institutions in the San Francisco Bay area.
How much money will your project receive?
The grant supports the salary costs for the scientist carrying out the sabbatical. I have received SEK 1.4 million which includes a repatriation grant that I will use when I am back at the academy.
Can you describe the company you will work with?
I will be working at Merck Research Laboratories, Palo Alto site. I have been collaborating with scientists at this site since 2009 on aspects of IL-17A biology in immunity to Helicobacter pylori infection. Previously known as DNAX Research Institute it is world renowned for its contributions to immunology. The site has about 200 scientists and is dedicated to biologics development.
What will you do in the project?
I will join the immuno-oncology team in a new collaboration to study the effects of targeting immunomodulatory receptors (IMRs) in different models of cancer. IMR’s are expressed on T cells, and upon engagement with their ligands, can lead to an inhibitory effect on T cells. Upon chronic exposure to antigen, the expression of different types of IMR’s has been shown to increase on T cells. Engagement of IMR’s with their ligands can lead to an exhausted or unresponsive state in T cells, which is often observed clinically in different types of cancer. The suppression of T cell response can be reversed by monoclonal antibodies blocking the interactions between the IMR’s and their ligands. This had led to the clinical trials with monoclonal antibodies blocking specifically IMR’s for treatment of melanoma and certain lung cancer types. My role in the new group will be to investigate the function of IMR’s in different cancer models with an aim to optimize cancer therapy by targeting the IMRs.
What problems do you hope the project / drug will be able to solve?
Merck Pharmaceuticals has a strong commitment to develop products that benefit patients. The project that I will be involved in is related to immune therapy for cancer in humans. And particularly the approach of targeting immunomodulatory receptors in patients is exciting as it’s predicted to transform the future of human cancer therapeutics.
