PhD project to identify the immune signature after CAR T-cells treatment.

CAR T-cell therapy has recently emerged as a novel important therapeutic tool in patients with advanced B cell malignancies. This treatment is targeting specifically the CD19 expression on B lymphocytes and has shown remarkable efficacy even in patients with relapsed / refractory disease. While showing promising results, there is to date, very little known on the immune mechanism supporting long-term response. Using new systems-level technologies (including advanced flow cytometry and single-cell RNA sequencing) we aim at exploring in-depth the immune landscape of patients receiving CAR T-cell therapy. Applying a machine learning approach, we intend to determine the immunological basis of CAR T-cell persistence. This mechanistic understanding into immune responses has the potential to be later translated into prognosis prediction of which individuals will show efficacious responses and which are more likely to relapse.