Our Research

Welcome to the Warren Lab. Our overall focus is is cancer immunology – with a particular interest in the cellular and molecular mechanisms that mediate cancer regression after immune-based therapy. The elimination of blood cancers after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), for example, is the oldest and remains one of the clearest examples of effective cancer “immunotherapy.” Dissecting the mechanisms of blood cancer elimination after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) is a long-standing interest of the Warren Lab. A relatively new class of drugs known as “immune checkpoint inhibitors” is another excellent example of effective cancer immunotherapy; deciphering how these agents can help eradicate cancer cells is also an active area of investigation in the Lab. The development of novel approaches for exploiting the power of the immune system to eliminate cancer – particularly kidney cancer – is a third emphasis. Finally, the Warren Lab is strongly focused on cancers of the immune system, known as lymphomas, which affect children and adults in sub-Saharan Africa, especially a type of pediatric lymphoma called Burkitt lymphoma.

The Warren Lab has extensive experience with manipulation and functional characterization of human T and B lymphocytes, identification of antigens recognized by T and B lymphocytes, comprehensive analysis of T- and B-lymphocyte repertoires with the aid of high-throughput DNA sequencing, and the use of next-generation sequencing for comprehensive transcriptional profiling (aka RNAseq). We make frequent use of preclinical models in our work in order to study the interaction of human cancer with the immune system.