In 2019 Maria Castro and Pedro Lowenstein shared with us their research on immune mediated gene therapy. This spring Maria will provide a progress report on their recent findings and the ongoing results of their clinical trial. Maria will also share some exciting data related to immunotherapies and their use in treating incurable cancers. Maria and Pedro have devoted more than two decades to pursuing the immune mediated genetic treatment of cancer – medicine’s “ultimate frontier.” This gene-therapy strategy enables the human body to fight malignant brain cancer (and potentially other cancers) by employing genetically engineered viruses (vectors) to kill the tumor cells and elicit an anti-tumor immune response. Maria will also discuss the Phase I clinical trial at the University of Michigan and exciting developments which have revolutionized the treatment for lung cancer and melanoma. 
Maria G. Castro, Ph.D., is the R.C. Schneider Professor of Neurosurgery, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, and Program Director of the National Cancer Institute Cancer Biology Training grant at the University of Michigan Medical School. She dedicates her research to immune-mediated cancer therapies.