Maxence completed his BSc and MSc. in Bioengineering at EPFL, Switzerland where he initially trained with Prof. Jeffrey Hubbell’s, developing fusion proteins with enhanced ECM affinity for controlled growth factor delivery. He then joined Prof. David Mooney’s group at Harvard University, where he completed his PhD in Bioengineering. His thesis work focused on the development and application of spontaneously assembling Mesoporous Silica Rods (MSR) scaffolds as a cancer vaccine platform. Using the ability of the MSR’s 3D micro-environment to recruit dendritic cells and locally deliver them with immunostimulatory molecules, he studied and optimized the system for the generation of robust and long-lasting T and B-cell responses against small peptides and protein domains. In collaboration with Prof. Kai Wucherpfennig at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, they investigated the effect of MSR immunization against MICA/B, a stress-inducible membrane-bound NKG2D ligand that is abnormally shed from cancer cells as an immune escape mechanism. Vaccine-induced anti-MICA/B antibodies stabilized the ligand at the cell surface and rescued NK and T-cell mediated cytotoxicity in vivo. Compared to monoclonal antibody therapy, the vaccine approach could engage multiple arms of the immune system, drastically altering the tumor microenvironment and improving therapeutic benefits in various solid tumor models. After graduating, he became the Immunology Team Lead at a Boston-based biotech startup where he worked 2 years on the development of iPSC-derived cell therapies. In 2023, Maxence joined the Yarmarkovich lab as a Senior Scientist where he’s using his experience to contribute to the lab’s mission of translating research into safer and more efficacious cancer immunotherapies.

Frank is a computational biologist specializing in algorithm and pipeline development within the field of cancer immunotherapy. He's completed his PhD in the Biomedical Informatics Program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) between 2019 and 2023. Guangyuan's career goal is to combine his computational training with his enthusiasm for cancer biology. Outside of work, you can find him indulging in rock climbing, basketball, and all things outdoorsy.

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Uriel double majored in Pharmaceutical-Biological Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Biology at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in 2017. His degree at the UDIBI lab from Instituto Politécnico Nacional focused on obtaining human CDRH3 from healthy donors, to generate a semi-synthetic library called “ALTHEA Gold Libraries”. As an analyst chemist he's worked in the development and validation of new libraries based on the "ALTHEA Gold Libraries", discovery of novel therapeutic antibodies against different target (TNF alfa, Chikungunya Virus, CD20, CD36, hPD1), and in the development of therapeutic antibodies against COVID-19 in Mexico. Afterwards, as the "Head of Discovery of Therapeutic Antibodies Area", he worked internationally in finding antibodies against interest protein. Currently, his research interest is in developing novel techniques in panning and screening to find antibodies with high therapeutic potential. Personal interests: find/visit new places to enjoy the connection with the nature. Meet new people to share experiences and stories. Learn to cook new dishes, as well as going out dancing with friends.

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Darren is a geneticist who specialises in transposable elements. He completed his undergraduate studies in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Leeds. He has also gained industrial experience at GSK and AstraZeneca, working on 3D liver models and Influenza vaccine development, respectively. Following his time in industry he completed his PhD with Dr Miguel Branco developing a novel technique to map epigenomic data to individual transposable element copies. Subsequently, he investigated the role of transposons in senescence and early development at the Laboratory of Medical Sciences with Dr Michelle Percharde. In his free time, he enjoys live music, hiking, cycling, skiing, swimming and cuddling with his cat, King.

Chris is a translational tumor biologist developing CAR-T therapies in collaboration with Umamaheswar Duvvuri. He completed his undergraduate studies in Molecular Biotechnology at the Technical University Munich in Germany. He completed his PhD at the Rockefeller University in New York developing RNA therapeutics for a pediatric liver cancer and developed surface proteomics to identify new immunotherapy targets. In his free time, he is a competitive pool player and avid rock climber and likes to chase his cats Bunbun and TabbyTab.

Xinya is from Wuhan, China. He majored in biotechnology at Guangdong Technion before attending the biotechnology M.S. program at NYU Tandon School of Engineering. His previous research was about nanoplasmonic immunoassay microarray chips, where he accumulated relevant knowledge of cancer treatment and CAR T therapy. He's interested in CAR T therapy, and his current project is developing a logic-gated CAR/BiTE platform. Outside of work, his interests are working out and video games.

Michele Palamenghi graduated in 2017 in “Pharmaceutical Biotechnology” at the University of Pavia, Italy. Here, Michele started to grow interest in the combined use of cell and gene therapy to treat different types of diseases. This led him to enroll to the “Regenerative and Molecular Medicine” PhD program at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy, under the supervision of Professor De Luca, where in 2021 he graduated. During his PhD, Michele participated to the development of novel safety assays and gene therapy approaches to tackle rare genetic epithelial disorders, such as epidermolysis bullosa and ectrodactyly-ectodermal dysplasia clefting syndrome (EEC). In this time, he was able to use his passion for art to draw several of the scientific article illustrations that were published by De Luca’s lab.

Jason is a biochemist – specialized in engineering proteins through large combinatorial libraries and is branching into the use of new computational tools to assist in rapid protein design. Jason completed his PhD training between 2018 and 2023 in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto where he had the unique opportunity to train under several mentors. As such, Jason has worked on many projects: developing protein-based tools to inhibit the proteasome, on the discovery of new autophagy proteins, targeted-protein degradation, and the design of proteins for the recognition of methylation and efficient gene repression. His goal is to apply his excitement for engineered proteins and his experience from other fields to advance CAR T therapy, while gaining independence as a researcher. (Although he has many other projects to apply in other diseases) Apart from research, you can find Jason trying to replicate food he ate from restaurants, playing badminton, biking, and fishing.

Minkyung graduated from University of Florida in 2018 majoring in Biology with a concentration in veterinary medicine. She's worked as a veterinary and nurse technician where she grew her passion for working in medicine. After working in inpatient rehabilitation working with variety of patients with different comorbidities such as oncological, neurologic, cardiac, and musculoskeletal injuries and through working closely with pediatric oncology patients, she wishes to pursue a doctorate degree in pediatric oncology. With the Yarmarkovich Lab, she wishes to learn and pursue her interest in cancer immunotherapy. In her spare time, Minkyung likes to cuddle with her cats Dwight and Mo with a nice book, or go to the gym to lift weights with her friends.

Doug received a Sc.B. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Brown University in 2019 and studied the architecture of the nucleosome core particle in the lab of Sarah Delaney. After graduation, they spent two years as a Research Associate at the Broad Institute working with Viktor Adalsteinsson to chemically optimize circulating tumor DNA extracted from blood for next generation sequencing-based solid tumor diagnostic technology. He matriculated to the NYU Grossman School of Medicine in 2021 and has completed the majority of their medical degree. His clinical interests include pediatrics as viewed through the lens of the complex identities, interpersonal relationships, and lived experience every child (and family!) possesses and informs their unique needs from the healthcare system. Doug has had leadership positions in the LGBTQIA2S+ affinity groups of NYU’s medical school, graduate school, and MD/PhD program as well as NYYGSoM’s Student Diversity Initiative. In the summer of 2024, Doug joined the Yarmarkovich group as PhD student and is excited to investigate how the intrinsic capacity of T cells to effect tissue-specific and enduring biological change can be modulated by creatively harnessing biochemical components of related or unrelated biological systems to develop the next generation of cell-based therapies for a myriad of diseases. Doug deeply enjoys living in New York City and frequents many parks, restaurants, thrift stores, theaters, and running paths across the different boroughs.