Evan R Abt

My focus as a postdoctoral researcher has been to address critical gaps in knowledge regarding the functional links between immune cell activation and nucleotide metabolism and to apply this new insight towards the development of immunotherapies for cancer patients. There are two central motivations underlying my interest in nucleotide metabolism. The first, from a basic science perspective, is to define the molecular mediators of bi-directional cross-talk between pattern recognition receptor-regulated cytokine signaling networks and metabolic networks within tumor, innate immune cell and T cell compartments. Second, from a translational perspective, I seek to define new therapeutic and diagnostic strategies which leverage the metabolic effects of cytokines and the immune-modifying effects of nucleotide metabolism-targeting drugs. My highly interdisciplinary and collaboration-centered research has provided fundamental insight into cancer immuno-metabolism alongside the rationale for clinical trials testing combination immunotherapy regimens.