Personalized microfluidic matching of immune cells to your cancer
Using microfluidics to realize patient-specific anti-cancer immunotherapies
This project uses tiny fluid-based devices to find which immune-cell receptors best recognize a patient’s tumor so therapies can be tailored.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Stanford University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Stanford, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11180340 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You would provide tumor markers or blood so researchers can use microfluidic chips to rapidly test thousands of potential matches between your tumor’s displayed peptides and T cell receptors. The system measures which matches actually trigger T cell activation, not just which bind strongly, to better identify immune signals likely to kill cancer cells. That information could guide creation of engineered T cells or personalized peptide vaccines matched to you. The work is done at Stanford and uses patient-derived data to make results relevant to individuals.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are people with cancer who can provide tumor tissue or blood samples and whose tumors can be genetically profiled to identify tumor-specific peptides.
Not a fit: Patients without accessible tumor or blood samples, those whose cancers lack identifiable neoantigens, or those medically unable to receive immunotherapy are less likely to benefit.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could make personalized T cell therapies and vaccines more effective at finding and killing tumor cells while reducing ineffective treatments.
How similar studies have performed: Engineered T cells and neoantigen vaccines have shown promise in other studies, but directly testing T cell activation with high-throughput microfluidics is a relatively new and less-tested approach.
Where this research is happening
Stanford, United States
- Stanford University — Stanford, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Fordyce, Polly Morrell — Stanford University
- Study coordinator: Fordyce, Polly Morrell
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.