Nam Woo Cho, MD, PhD

In the Cho Lab, we are focused on understanding the rules of engagement between cancer and the immune system. We aim to leverage fundamental, mechanistic discoveries to advance the treatment of cancer patients. Despite recent breakthroughs in cancer immunotherapeutics, there remains a significant knowledge gap particularly with respect to how interactions between cancer cells and immune cells determine treatment response vs. resistance. Our work using novel mouse and human models combined with high parameter immune profiling reveal critical molecular and cellular circuits responsible for resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors and radiation therapy, including a surprising role for T cells in exacerbating immune-suppressive inflammation engaging immune and malignant cells in the tumor microenvironment. We aim to leverage expertise in molecular engineering and high parameter, single-cell profiling to understand key interactions at the tumor-immune interface to improve and innovate immune-based cancer therapy.  

The major aims of our research program are:

1. To leverage high-parameter imaging and single cell proteomics to interrogate multicellular interactions in response to immune checkpoint inhibitors
2. To interrogate consequences of stereotactic radiation on inflammatory T cell-tumor interactions
3. To develop novel molecular and genetic tools to dissect cell-cell and cell-ligand interactions in the tumor microenvironment