Sidi Chen, PhD, CRI Lloyd J. Old STAR Yale University Area of Research: All Cancers Dr. Sidi Chen seeks to address fundamental problems in cancer genetics and immunity, and to leverage those insights to develop next-generation immunotherapies. Working at the intersection of these two emerging fields, Dr. Chen has pioneered the concept “genome engineering for, of, and as immunotherapy”—as in, applying high-throughput CRISPR screening technologies to discover new targets for immunotherapy, directly editing the genomes of T cells to create better versions of cellular immunotherapies like CAR T cells, and harnessing the genome engineering machinery itself to re-program immune cells as novel immunotherapy agents. Overall, Dr. Chen’s lab is focused on uncovering novel insights into cancer by taking advantage of diverse disciplines across genetics, immunobiology, and systems biology to transform the development of new immunotherapies. Over the next five years, his goal is to advance both fundamental research, cancer therapeutic candidate development, and translational studies. If successfully translated into the clinic, these therapies could benefit a broad range of patient populations across multiple cancer types. Projects and Grants Genome engineering for, of, and as immunotherapy Yale University | All Cancers | 2023 Systematic identification of druggable targets for enhancement of PD-1 checkpoint blockade therapy in melanoma Yale University | Melanoma | 2017
