Pranay Dogra, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow Columbia University Medical Center

Due to their ability to kill cancer cells directly, Natural killer (NK) cells from the blood are being evaluated in a variety of immunotherapy applications. However, much remains unknown about NK cells from tissues, including their longevity and if populations from different tissues have different cancer-fighting capabilities, so Dr. Pranay Dogra is using his team’s unique resources to characterize the properties of these cells in humans. Specifically, he’s mapping the distribution of NK cells throughout the body and cataloguing various pieces of information on these different populations, including the diversity of receptors they express, their functional capabilities, tissue residence status, and memory differentiation potential. In this way, Dr. Dogra aims to leverage this knowledge to identify the tissue sites with the NK cells most efficient at eliminating cancer and, potentially, to improve NK cell-based cancer immunotherapy approaches.

Projects and Grants