William H. Hudson, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow Emory University

T cells are very potent anti-cancer immune cells, and they play an important role in immunotherapy. However, sometimes they don’t develop properly or become exhausted after they mature, stopping them from attacking cancer cells. One of those potential factors that prevent T cell activity appears to be long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which may govern the behavior of T cells throughout their lifespan. To determine how these molecules influence the anti-cancer abilities of T cells, Dr. Hudson is characterizing the lncRNA profiles of both functional and exhausted T cells. Furthermore, he’s looking at how lncRNAs regulate gene expression during T cell development and during responses to viral infection. This should allow Dr. Hudson to identify lncRNAs that could potentially be used to enhance anti-tumor T cell activity in immunotherapy.

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