What the HEK is Immunotherapy‪?‬ WTHisImmunotherapy

This month Gillian and Pauline learn all about Tumor infiltrating Lymphocyte (aka TIL) therapy with Dr. Simon Turcotte! Dr. Turcotte is a surgical oncologist at the CHUM Research Centre in Montreal, Quebec, who has a keen interest in TIL therapy. Listen in as we discuss things such as what TIL therapy is, what types of cancer it's been approved for, the TIL therapy scene within Canada, and what Dr. Turcotte researches and how he hopes to bring TIL therapy to Canada through a clinical trial!



Below are some useful links if you want to learn more:

Lifileucel approval



Melinda's story



TIL clinical trial in Canada led by Dr. Turcotte



Transcript



Don't forget to give us a follow on instagram @wthisimmunotherapy or feel free to reach out with questions at wthisimmunotherapy@gmail.com



Creators & Producers: Gillian Savage, Grace Bernard, and Dr. Pauline Loos

Podcast Logo is designed by Mia Portelance

Music is by Lara Antebi (https://laraantebi.bandcamp.com/)

So we learnt all about CAR T cell therapy on episode 2 with Dr. Scott McComb, but what exactly is the current landscape of CAR T cell therapy research like? To answer some students we chatted with 4 PhD students to learn a bit about their research and what they are excited for in the future.

Big thank you to our guests: Alex Shepherd, Bigitha Bennychen, Lorenzo Lindo, and Katie Flight



Also, don’t forget to give us a follow on instagram @wthisimmunotherapy! Or feel free to reach out to us at wthisimmunotherapt@gmail.com



Creators & Producers: Gillian Savage, Grace Bernard, and Dr. Pauline Loos 

Podcast Logo is designed by Mia Portelance 

Music is by Lara Antebi (https://laraantebi.bandcamp.com/)

This week we are doing something a bit different - Grace and I sit down with Danielle Eldridge to chat about her experience receiving immunotherapy.



About Danielle:

Danielle recently graduated in May 2023 with a degree in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University. She grew up in Houston, Texas , works in technical marketing at Siemens, and is a Leukemia survivor. Danielle was diagnosed in June 2023 with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia but is happy to report that as of September 2023 she is in complete remission and is currently undergoing maintenance chemotherapy. Danielle completed 2 rounds of the hyper-CVAD frontline chemotherapy regime and 4 rounds of blinatumomab accompanied by periodic infusions of Rituximab and Inotuzumab. Danielle is currently competing for Visionary of the Year, a 10-week fundraising competition benefiting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She is the youngest candidate this year and 1 of only 3 cancer survivors in her regional division. Danielle would very much appreciate any possible donations to her fundraising page. DONATE HERE:https://pages.lls.org/voy/txg/houston24/deldridge



Also, don’t forget to give us a follow on instagram @wthisimmunotherapy! Or feel free to reach out to us at wthisimmunotherapt@gmail.com



Creators & Producers: Gillian Savage, Grace Bernard, and Dr. Pauline Loos 

Podcast Logo is designed by Mia Portelance 

Music is by Lara Antebi (https://laraantebi.bandcamp.com/)

On this month’s episode we are joined by Dr. Scott McComb, a researcher at the National Research Council of Canada, to talk about Chimeric Antigen Receptor aka CAR T cells! Listen in as we discuss topics such as what exactly is a CAR T cell, how it is currently being used, some current challenges with this therapy, what Dr. McComb brings to the field, and what we are excited to see in the future with CAR T cell therapy!

Below are some useful links of things mentioned in the episode:

About BioCanRx: https://biocanrx.com/about/about-biocanrx

CLIC-01 Trial: https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.1074740

Paper mentioned on CAR T cells for autoimmune diseases: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2308917

CD22 CAR Paper from Dr. McComb's lab: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omton.2024.200775

Episode Script: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h0jUDBnVgdZcZk6aPCJ6IwaCIAt9uRml/view?usp=sharing

Don’t forget to give us a follow on instagram @wthisimmunotherapy! Or feel free to reach out to us at wthisimmunotherapt@gmail.com

Creators & Producers: Gillian Savage, Grace Bernard, and Dr. Pauline Loos 

Podcast Logo is designed by Mia Portelance 

Music is by Lara Antebi (https://laraantebi.bandcamp.com/)

What the HEK is immunotherapy? With this podcast we are trying to answer that question! Through interviews with professors, students, patients, and other experts in the field we hope to introduce different types of immunotherapy and the research that is ongoing, specifically within the Canadian field. Join us as we try to make immunotherapy more digestible!

Before we dive into the different types of immunotherapy we wanted to take a step back to actually give a primer on what the HEK is immunotherapy? In this month's episode, hosts Gillian and Grace, along with co-creator Dr. Pauline Loos, describe the different components of the immune system, including the innate immune cells, adaptive immune cells such as T and B cells, and how these cells contribute to vaccine and cancer responses. We hope this immunology primer serves to get everyone up to speed on the major players in immunology that are utilized to fight cancer, or other diseases, in immunotherapy treatments.



Transcript link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15QCCKCMprWAFkLX-drdXBvgxaKBW6TkaB-hFHYJjUiQ/edit?usp=sharing