WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:02.330 So my name is Renee Donahue. 2 00:00:02.330 --> 00:00:06.830 I'm a staff scientist at the National Cancer Institute 3 00:00:06.830 --> 00:00:10.370 line:15% at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. 4 00:00:10.370 --> 00:00:13.460 line:15% I work in the laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology, 5 00:00:13.460 --> 00:00:16.840 line:15% which is a translational research program, 6 00:00:16.840 --> 00:00:19.040 line:15% composed of seven pre-clinical groups, 7 00:00:19.040 --> 00:00:22.430 and we work very closely with the Clinical Trials group. 8 00:00:22.430 --> 00:00:24.130 I lead one of those seven groups, 9 00:00:24.130 --> 00:00:26.250 line:15% and my team, especially, works very close 10 00:00:26.250 --> 00:00:28.720 line:15% with the Clinical Trials team. 11 00:00:28.720 --> 00:00:31.340 line:15% We're looking to, basically, 12 00:00:31.340 --> 00:00:33.440 line:15% examine the immune responses of patients 13 00:00:33.440 --> 00:00:36.140 line:15% that are enrolled in our clinical trials 14 00:00:36.140 --> 00:00:37.540 at the NCI. 15 00:00:37.540 --> 00:00:38.780 And we're looking, basically, 16 00:00:38.780 --> 00:00:41.990 for correlates or things that associate 17 00:00:41.990 --> 00:00:44.010 with clinical responses of patients 18 00:00:44.010 --> 00:00:47.350 or things that associate with the development 19 00:00:47.350 --> 00:00:49.820 of adverse events in these patients. 20 00:00:49.820 --> 00:00:51.600 line:15% I like to be in the lab as much as I can, 21 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:54.330 line:15% but I have to rely heavily on my team 22 00:00:54.330 --> 00:00:55.760 line:15% to sort of move things along. 23 00:00:55.760 --> 00:01:00.000 line:15% So, day in and day out I'm designing experiments, 24 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:01.750 line:15% analyzing data with my team, 25 00:01:01.750 --> 00:01:05.040 putting together presentations, writing papers. 26 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:07.760 There's a lot of meetings with our oncologists 27 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:11.020 where we're sort of looking to 28 00:01:11.020 --> 00:01:14.160 design and refine protocols that are planned 29 00:01:14.160 --> 00:01:14.993 in the future. 30 00:01:16.030 --> 00:01:17.230 One of the really cool things 31 00:01:17.230 --> 00:01:20.870 that we get to do in the lab is 32 00:01:20.870 --> 00:01:23.190 line:15% we do a lot of first in human studies. 33 00:01:23.190 --> 00:01:26.500 line:15% So these are trials where agents 34 00:01:26.500 --> 00:01:28.770 line:15% that have only been tested pre-clinically 35 00:01:28.770 --> 00:01:32.450 line:15% and have never been in people are actually put in patients. 36 00:01:32.450 --> 00:01:35.240 For example, the Phase 1 study of Avelumab, 37 00:01:35.240 --> 00:01:37.670 which is an anti-PD-L1 antibody 38 00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:40.810 that's capable of mediating ADCC, 39 00:01:40.810 --> 00:01:43.740 and there was a lot of concern raised about that 40 00:01:43.740 --> 00:01:47.570 because there was concern that we might deplete immune cells 41 00:01:47.570 --> 00:01:48.993 that express this target. 42 00:01:49.940 --> 00:01:52.710 line:15% So my lab was involved in sort of 43 00:01:52.710 --> 00:01:54.700 line:15% looking extensively at the immune responses 44 00:01:54.700 --> 00:01:56.780 line:15% of patients enrolled in this trial and was able to show 45 00:01:56.780 --> 00:02:00.240 line:15% that we did not deplete PD-L1 expressing subsets. 46 00:02:00.240 --> 00:02:02.320 And that's really exciting for us 47 00:02:02.320 --> 00:02:03.940 because this agent has since gone on 48 00:02:03.940 --> 00:02:06.663 to be approved by the FDA for two indications.