This postdoc investigates how immune checkpoint molecules regulate anti-tumor immune responses.
Q | Write a brief introduction to yourself including the lab you work in and your research background.
My name is Dia Roy, and I am working as a postdoctoral researcher in Lily Wang’s lab from the department of Translational Hematology and Oncology Research at the Lerner Research Institute. The current research goal of our laboratory is to define novel mechanisms by which immune checkpoint molecules regulate anti-tumor immune responses thereby developing rational therapeutics for cancer immunotherapy.
Q | How did you first get interested in science and/or your field of research?
My journey into science did not begin at any laboratory, but rather at a hospital waiting room when one of my close family members got seriously ill. That left me with an endless stream of questions: why did these symptoms occur and why are some treatments working better than others? Most interestingly the doctors kept mentioning the immune system to answer most of these questions as if this system is an invisible but invincible army working behind the scenes, deciding the fate of the illness. This is the first time I got intrigued by this vast field of immunology. In school, I gravitated towards biology. I was particularly attracted to the idea that our own body cells can protect us against diseases and sometimes, tragically enough, can turn itself against our own self. I started reading books about different components of immune system like antibodies, T cells, and how the immune system can distinguish between friends and enemies of our body. Gradually, immunology became more than a subject, but an ongoing mystery that requires solving. My doctoral training gave me tools to find answers to the questions that I have been asking. I discovered the thrill of performing experiments to find answers for the complexity of our immune system. Today, my work in tumor immunology helped me explore various ways of reprogramming the immune cells, to better fight cancer. In more than one way, I am still chasing the questions from that hospital waiting room, only now am I trying to get answers for them.
Q | Tell us about your favorite research project you’re working on.
Our body’s immune system acts as a vigilante, always on a lookout for intruders against our body. Some intruders are easy to recognize and be destroyed by the immune system but few like the cancer cells are a master in disguise. These cancer cells trick the immune soldiers into ignoring them until it is too late. My favorite research project, which I am currently working on, is helping those immune soldiers see through this disguise. I work with a type of immune cells—T cells. I give these cells an upgrade, much like equipping a soldier with GPS. This upgrade is called the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), which helps the T cells to effectively find and kill cancer cells. But there is a twist: cancer creates a toxic and exhausting environment for the T cells that enter in its microenvironment, thereby wearing the T cells quickly. My research focuses on figuring out how to make the CART cells more energetic and persistent in that hostile tumor microenvironment. Every new insight into this work could really mean new ways of saving life.
Q | What has been the most exciting part of your scientific career/journey so far?
The most exciting moment in my scientific career is the discovery of LRIG1 as a binding partner for a well-known inhibitory checkpoint molecule VISTA. This interaction happens not only in acidic microenvironment typical of tumors, but also in neutral pH. Finding that LRIG1 VISTA interaction can occur even in normal pH, outside the tumor microenvironment completely shifted our understanding of how immune checkpoint molecules regulate the T cells even outside the tumor and this priming is very important to determine the fate of T cells in the tumor microenvironment. For me it was thrilling not just because of scientific novelty but because I knew it could pave ways for new immunotherapeutic strategies.
Q | If you could be a laboratory instrument, which one would you be and why?
If I were a laboratory instrument, I would be a flow cytometer. Just like the flow cytometer, which can take in a chaotic mixture of cells and quickly reveal the unique identity of each one, I also enjoy breaking complex problems into individual components and try to understand how they fit together. Flow cytometers do not just collect data, but they give us hidden stories of how a subtle change in a small cell population can change an entire story and give a new outlook at looking into a problem. That is exactly how I see my role as a scientist not just as a data generator but uncovering the patterns and insights that can truly help us in solving the mysteries of human body.
