尽管毕业时间相差几十年, 两位威尼斯人平台的校友, 劳伦斯·林1969年, M.D., D.Sc., and Johnson Ung ’17, are on the same mission to cure cancer. The scientists are working together to conduct groundbreaking research at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
But how did these Bulldogs man年龄 to cross paths nearly 2,500 miles away from the U of R?
从音乐到医学
The story begins in Sacramento, 加州, where 亮度 grew up in the 1950s. 一个患有哮喘和过敏的小男孩, 亮度 was unable to expend all his energy outside, 于是他的父亲开始教他弹钢琴. He started taking lessons from a retired Chicago Philharmonic concert master, 谁还教他竖单簧管和小提琴. After his father began attending a Chinese Northern Baptist Missionary Church, 亮度 eventually became the church’s pianist and choir master.
亮度 ended up at the U of R when the Northern American Baptist Convention—which was then associated with the University—awarded him a full scholarship. At the same time, he won the 加州 Bank of America Music Award. 但令人惊讶的是，林从来就不是音乐专业的学生.
“I sang in the chapel choir; I was in the Chapel Singers; and I was involved in Feast of Lights in ’66, ’67,亮度回忆道. “I played saxophone in the U of R marching band, jazz band—但 I was a chemistry major.”
At the beginning of his undergraduate studies, 亮度 wanted to become a medical missionary. 在他的道路不断发展的过程中, 他的目标是在医学上有所作为, 尤其是对癌症患者, 从高中开始就保持不变吗.
有影响力的导师
At the U of R, Professors of 化学 Julian Roberts and James (吉姆) Ifft were major influences. “They really believed in independent study and were very interactive, 很可, 让我们参与了暑期研究,亮度说。. “I did summer research every single summer, and began doing independent study my sophomore year. 在夏天, 吉姆, besides making us write our own summer grants to be funded by the National 科学 Foundation, 会运行P.E. class where you had to hike in the High Sierras, tie your own flies, and catch trout.” 亮度, who is still an avid fly fisherman to this day, graduated 优等生 and was subsequently inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.
晚些时候, when 亮度 was a first-year medical student at University of 加州, 旧金山, he traveled to Copenh年龄n to complete his summer fellowship research with Ifft, 谁在休假. “我在嘉士伯实验室工作, which was an inspiration because three Nobel Prize winners had done their work there,亮度说。. “我最后上了几篇论文.”
“If it weren’t for 吉姆,” 亮度 emphasizes, “I would not be where I am now.”
那是多年以后的事了, in 2000, that 亮度 would make a special trip back to the U of R to be presented with an honorary Doctor of 科学.
在他医学院的第三年, which he completed at the University of Colorado, 亮度 wanted to be a pediatric immunologist and study children born with no immunity. He conducted research at the National Cancer Institute before becoming a member of the premier bone marrow transplant program at Fred Hutchinson Cancer 研究 Center in Seattle during the pioneering days of stem cell transplants. 亮度, with 85 publications under his belt, became a full professor in only six years. This feat is even more impressive considering that he and his wife, 卡罗, who graduated with a degree in biochemistry from University of 加州, 加州大学伯克利分校, were both working and raising two young daughters at the time.
It was in 1995 when 亮度 was working as part of a stem cell transplant program in Milwaukee, 威斯康辛州, that bispecific antibody armed-targeted T cells began to emerge. T cells are a type of white blood cell that play a major role in the immune system, and 亮度’s goal was to figure out how to engineer them to kill cancer.
“That’s when we started putting together targeted T cells and a little bit of science,亮度说。.
基础广泛
在同一时期, 在几个州之外的加州, 约翰逊·翁在尤开帕长大, just minutes away from the 威尼斯人平台 campus.
Ung admits that while Redlands wasn’t originally at the top of his list of prospective schools due to his desire to put some distance between himself and his hometown, he changed his mind when he “immediately fell in love” during a tour of campus.
Upon beginning his academic journey at 雷德兰兹, Ung was certain of his goal to become a clinical investigator, 但不确定实现这一目标的最佳方式. 他最终获得了B.S. 在化学和生物方面, basing his decision not only on his desired career path, 但他对知识的好奇心也很重要. “I chose to double major because I wanted to have a better understanding of how nature functions, with the ultimate goal of turning science into therapy,Ung说。. “研究常常受到狭隘视野的困扰, and I felt a broader skillset was the necessary foundation.”
在收入之上 优等生 被选入优等生兄弟会, Ung was involved in a multitude of organizations during his time at 雷德兰兹, 包括欧米克隆德尔塔卡帕, a leadership honor society; Mortar Board, an honor society for seniors; Phi Sigma, a biological sciences honor society; and Rangi Ya Giza, 非希腊社会正义兄弟会. 两年了, Ung served as a peer advisor for Professor of Philosophy Lawry Finsen’s first-year seminar, Beyond the Killing Fields: Encountering Cambodia Today, which allowed him to be a student advisor for the associated May Term travel course, 柬埔寨服务, 毕业后. 和, 就像烟囱, 他迷上了音乐, having played trumpet in high school and French horn in the U of R symphonic band. 他还弹钢琴，还会弹尤克里里琴.
It was Professor of 生物学 Ben Aronson who introduced Ung to the world of clinical research. “He recommended an outstanding internship opportunity at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer 研究 Center,Ung说。. “没有博士. Aronson, I probably would not be on the same career path that I am today.”
迈出这一步
About one year after 亮度 began working as the scientific director of bone marrow transplantation and director of cellular therapy at the University of Virginia Cancer Center, Ung joined 亮度’s lab as an intern and was then hired on as a clinical research technician.
)说 moving across the country was “simultaneously one of the scariest and most exciting things” he has ever done. 他承认，与Dr. 林和他的团队一开始很紧张, 但, 随着时间的推移, Ung eased into his job and found a sense of belonging. “I feel like an important part of the whole operation,” he says.
His place in the operation includes working with those special T cells.
第一个, T cells are collected from the patient and cultured to increase their population from 10 billion to 100 billion. The T cells are then coated with a bispecific antibody, which attaches to the T cell on one end and is directed to a tumor-associated antigen (a part of the tumor that can be recognized by the immune system) on the other.
“The usual frequency of killer cells directed at the tumor is very low—about 1 in 1 million,亮度说。. “So, when we infuse the targeted army into the patient, we’re putting in a huge magnification of cells ready to target and destroy. The whole idea is to turn every single T cell that we obtain from the patient into an army of killers all targeted at the same tumor.”
When the bispecific antibody armed-targeted T cells (BATs) come into contact with the tumor, they release immune proteins that recruit surrounding immune cells to the tumor site, 在那里他们也学会了如何攻击肿瘤. “The BATs are the kamikazes that attack the tumor to release the tumor antigens,亮度解释道. “The endogenous fresh immune cells of the patient are now able to sense the tumor, 分, 让自己变得更好. Infusions of BATs vaccinate the patients against their own tumors. 我们现在有癌症患者的数据——前列腺癌, 乳房, 还有胰腺癌, along with blood disorders such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma in combination with stem cell transplant—showing immunological memory is induced by an infusion or multiple infusions of BATs.”
亮度, who holds all the patents 和智力ual property linked to the BATs, runs the only lab in the world doing this type of immunotherapy. “We’re trying to get the drug in a clinical trial to pave the way for approval by the FDA. We’re trying to make it all the way from discovery to the bedside.”
路径前进
Finding a cure for cancer isn’t the only thing on 亮度’s plate, however. 三位主要研究人员, 包括亮度, recently received a $17 million grant for an operation to develop new technology to cure patients with type 1 diabetes. “We are trying to make regulatory T cells that would shut down the autoimmune reactions of pancreatic islet cells,亮度解释道. “We’re trying to modify the patient’s immune system.”
翁是冲锋的先锋.
A standard day of research for Ung consists of growing, 维护, and preparing a variety of cells for different experiments. 在临床工作方面, )说, “A typical day could involve donning surgical gowns, 手术手套, 头发网, 口罩, and shoe covers to go into a clean room where I help grow and harvest patient cells, or it could involve preparing the specialized cells and bringing them directly to the patient’s bedside for reinfusion.”
Ung finds both aspects of his job equally fulfilling: “I love the research because everything I am working on can be translated into a potential therapy. The clinical work feels extremely rewarding because I get to help people directly—something I’ve been dreaming of since I was a child.”
亮度 is happy to have Ung in his lab, fondly referring to him as a “scientific sponge.”
“Along with being personable and getting along with everyone really well,亮度说。, “约翰逊的精力非常充沛, 热情, 和智力.”
Ung hopes to remain involved with immunotherapy and clinical research, 他正计划申请博士学位.D. 今年秋季的课程. “我打算在博士的工作中获得更多经验. 卢姆的实验室，”他说. “A number of 威尼斯人平台 alumni have worked with Dr. 亮度 through the years, and I am tremendously grateful to be one of them.”
