Abstract 

Human tumors are complex ecosystems whose fate is determined by a balance of interactions between cancer cells and the host. Cancer immune evasion is a requisite for the development and maintenance of cancers, and determines response or resistance to modern immunotherapies. Emerging technologies enable more precise, scalable, and refined interrogation of these complex, poorly understood interactions and pave the way toward improved therapies. Informed by multi-modal single-cell profiling of human tumors and analysis of population genetics, we employ functional screens to mechanistically define and tune genomic (e.g., chromosomal instability), adaptive (e.g., CD58-CD2 axis) and microenvironmental features (e.g., T cell states) impacting tumor immunity.
 

Biosketch

Dr. Izar received is a physician-scientist who completed his medical school training at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, where he was graduated summa cum laude. He performed his clinical training and medical oncology at Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals, followed by post-doctoral work in the Garraway and Regev labs at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. In 2020, Ben started his laboratory at Columbia University, where is now holds the endowed Milstein Assistant Professorship of Medicine. Ben’s group leverages and develops novel technologies to study mechanisms at the intersection of cancer immune evasion, metastatic progression and organotropism, and immune engineering. Additionally, Ben continues a clinical practice focussing on the treatment of patients with advanced melanoma and lung cancer.

Selected Publications 

1. Chris Frangieh et al.,  Nature Genetics, 2021 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33649592 
2. Johannes Melms et al.,  Nature, 2021  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33915568
3. Jana Biermann et al.  Cell, 2022 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35803246
4. Yiping Wang et al. Nature Genetics 2023 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36624340
5. Patricia Ho et al. Cancer Cell, 2023 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37327789
6. Meri Rogava et al., Nature Cancer, 2024 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38286827
7. Zachary Walsh et al.  Nature Biotechnology, 2024 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38783148 

We received partial funding for his visit from Health and Life Sciences Alliance HD-Mannheim and the MULTI-SPACE.