My PhD project focuses on optimisation of CD8 T cells for anti-tumour T-cell therapies, and it is a part of the Marie Curie Innovative Training Network ENACTI2NG.
The aim of the project is to design optimal CD8 mutant co-receptors, which in combination with different anti-tumour TCRs could result in improved sensitivity of anti-tumour T cells for tumour associated antigens.
The ENACTI2NG network brings together different projects focusing on T cell therapies with the aim of providing PhD students with the expert training in different areas of anti-cancer therapies.
Career Profile: I obtained my bachelor’s degree at University College Utrecht, The Netherlands, and subsequently obtained a master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from University of Utrecht. During the master’s degree, I first did a short internship at the Laboratory of Molecular Neuropsychiatry at Ruder Boskovic Institue in Zagreb. During my second, 10-month internship at University Medical Centre in Utrecht, I worked on generating AML-specific T cells for use in combinational therapy with dendritic cell vaccines. This research project prompted me to pursue a PhD in T cell therapies. Before coming to Bristol, I worked on engineering lymphatic and blood microvasculature at Ludwig Boltzmann Institute in Vienna.