George Coukos

Biography

Much of my career as a clinician and cancer researcher has focused on immunotherapy and the exploration of tumor immunology, with a focus on ovarian cancer. In the early 2000’s, my research uncovered the existence of spontaneous immune responses in ovarian tumors and described their influence on the severity of disease. This research suggested that ovarian cancer may be susceptible to immunotherapy, and inspired me to explore the development of such therapies. My laboratory also made critical contributions to our understanding of how tumors exploit regulatory T cells to suppress immune responses, and the role tumor-feeding blood vessels play in such immunosuppression. In parallel, I have also been very involved in the development of novel immunotherapies—including dendritic cell vaccines—and their evaluation in clinical trials related to ovarian cancer.

Research Interest

Cancer, immunotherapy, therapeutics