Justin Eyquem, PhD

I received my PhD from the University of Paris-Diderot in collaboration with the biotech company Cellectis. During my PhD, I participated in the development of genome editing tools such as Meganuclease and TALEN in primary human cells and notably identified genomic location for safe integration of therapeutic genes. In 2014, I joined Michel Sadelain’s lab at MSKCC, who is a pioneer in the Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell field. I am now using CRISPR/Cas9 to engineer CAR T cells and my recent work showed how precise genome editing can augment CAR T cell efficacy, advance CAR immuno-biology and facilitate T cell manufacturing. My latest interests focus on novel CAR designs that recognize low tumor antigen density and applying the editing platform Sadelain developed to study CAR T cell immunology in immunocompetent mouse models.

As a Parker Senior Fellow, I will reprogram T cells to maximize their antitumor function in the context of an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Using the genome-editing platform I developed, I will investigate the interaction of reprogrammed T cells with the TME in relevant immunocompetent and humanized mouse models to ultimately design T cells overcoming the TME.