A research review by students and staff in the School of Life Sciences has been published in the journal Cancers.

Emilie Alard, Charlotte Kirkham, Marta Grillo and Aura-Bianca Butnariu put together a literature review on immunotherapy as a continuation of their research project.

Under the supervision of Dr Zahid Pranjol and in collaboration with Dr Louise Newnham and Dr Jenna Macciochi, the students provided an update on recent advances in cancer immunotherapy. Using knowledge from their courses, they worked with the academic faculty to write the now-published review.

Cancer immunotherapy is a form of cancer treatment that involves or uses components of the immune system.

The students focussed specifically on CAR-T cells, checkpoint inhibitors, dendritic cell vaccines, and oncolytic viruses in immunotherapy.

Dr Pranjol said: “I met each of these students at their poster presentation on immunotherapy and, after a very informal Q&A, I got to learn about their interest in this area. Coincidently, I received an invitation to write a review at the same time! These students were thrilled and excited at the prospect of writing an academic piece. After consulting with Drs Louise Newnham and Jenna Macciochi, I decided to invite our students to write the paper with me.

"Emilie, Charlotte, Marta and Bianca have managed to produce this work, which was published in a high-impact paper, during this pandemic and demonstrated excellent collaboration, communication and teamwork. I am very proud!”

Emilie Alard, Charlotte Kirkham and Marta Grillo study on the MSc in Cancer Cell Biology and Aura-Bianca Butnariu has just completed a BSc in Biomedical Science.

'Advances in Anti-Cancer Immunotherapy: Car-T Cell, Checkpoint Inhibitors, Dendritic Cell Vaccines, and Oncolytic Viruses, and Emerging Cellular and Molecular Targets' is published in Cancer.