Name: Nils Rudqvist
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Rudqvist |
Title: PhD
Employer: Weill Cornell Medicine
When and why did you become a SITC member?
I became a SITC member in 2016 when I joined the laboratory
of Sandra Demaria at Weill Cornell Medicine. My background is in radiation physics/biology,
so immunology was quite new to me. One main reason for me to join SITC was to
develop the necessary skills and knowledge to become a successful investigator
in the field of immuno-oncology.
Can you briefly explain the work you are doing in the field?
Sandra’s lab is focused on understanding how radiation
therapy can be used together with immune modulation to reject both irradiated
and abscopal tumors. As a wheel in that machinery, I focus on how radiation
impacts the tumor antigenicity. For this purpose, I investigate both how the TCR
repertoire is shaped by both mono- and combination therapies, and the role of
neoantigens in the treatment response.
Who or what inspired you to choose this specific career path?
Short answer: patients. I have been wanting to work with
clinically relevant research for some time, and it is very rewarding to imagine
that my research may one day benefit patients that today are without treatment
options.
What are some of the biggest challenges you are facing in the field?
Using data from clinical trials performed at Weill Cornell,
some of my work have been focused on developing a biomarker of response to
radiation therapy and checkpoint blockade. A lot of my research is performed in
silico, and there is always a need for more data, more samples. Having paired
tumor and blood samples before and after treatment, from perhaps from more than
one tumor site, would be incredible helpful in the search for biomarkers.
What topic(s) do you plan to write about for The Sentinel, SITC’s new blog?
My focus will perhaps be more personal than others. As
mentioned above, I joined the field more recently, and I will write about my
experiences surrounding this.
What do you hope readers will gain from this new blog?
I hope to give my reader both a serious and fun reading
experience. Serious in terms of how we can better welcome outsiders into
the field and how to engage in multi-disciplinary collaboration. Fun in terms
of misunderstandings that happen along the way. I will also share projections and
results related to my career trajectory.
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