The mission of the CIIP is to reduce the burden of cancer by elucidating the basic mechanisms of interactions between the immune system and cancer, thus providing a scientific rationale for the design of new and more effective approaches for cancer treatment and prevention.
The mandate of the CIIP is to encourage, facilitate, and support the best research and training in cancer immunology and immunotherapy, to evaluate the therapeutic significance of basic findings from the laboratories of CIIP members through conducting translational pre-clinical studies, and to develop and implement clinical trials in cancer patients that translate the findings with the greatest therapeutic promise. Our efforts will be extended and strengthened through collaborations with other Hillman Programs and Centers, such as the Cancer Biology and Genome Stability Programs, the UPMC Immune Transplant and Therapy Center, and the Mario Lemieux Immunotherapy Center.
CIIP research goals are to:
- Define the basic regulatory mechanisms that promote anti-tumor immunity or facilitate tumor immune evasion
- Dissect the epigenetic, transcriptional and cellular geography of the tumor immune microenvironment to discover new immunotherapeutic targets and predictive biomarkers
- Develop and translate novel laboratory research findings into more effective immunotherapies for cancer treatment and prevention.
