Xinyi Tu

Our bodies are protected by the immune system, which can find and eliminate cancer cells before they grow into a problem. But cancer can sometimes hide or shut down the body’s normal defenses, allowing it to grow unnoticed. Cancer vaccines are a new kind of treatment that help “wake up” the immune system and train it to recognize markers found only on cancer cells. Once trained, the immune system can find and destroy cancer. Our team is developing a vaccine platform that uses nanoparticles to deliver the vaccine ingredients to the immune system. Our platform uses RNA molecules specially designed to grab the attention of the immune system and trigger a response against cancer cells. Our approach does not use materials that cause harmful side effects like fever and allows for customization for different cancer types. In short, we are creating a smarter, safer way to teach the immune system how to fight cancer — like giving it a “wanted poster” and ringing the alarm bell at the same time. If successful, our platform could become a powerful tool to help more patients benefit from cancer immunotherapy.