Discovery and Basic Research
Catherine Fromen, PhD (she/her/hers)
Associate Professor
University of Delaware
Newark, Delaware
Immunotherapies and immune engineering are approaches that have recently captivated the pharmaceutical industry, from the delivery of biologics that modulate immune checkpoints, adoptively transferred chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, or precision nanoparticles that direct immune responses for prophylactic or therapeutic immune responses. The potential to translate findings from other routes of administration into aerosol immunotherapies posses incredible opportunity for manipulating the local mucosal-specific microenvironment, engaging specialized pulmonary cellular defenders, and accessing lymphoid tissue to redirect systemic adaptive and memory responses. In this talk, Dr. Catherine Fromen will highlight recent advances in the area across a range of modalities and discuss basic research directions and translational hurdles. The talk will also address immune barriers and cellular targets in the lung to address outstanding needs and opportunities for realizing aerosol immune engineering.