Dr. Laura Evgin’s research is focused on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) modified T cells and their use in conjunction with oncolytic viruses (OVs). OVs can help to overcome the myriad of immunosuppressive mechanisms employed by solid tumours to evade the immune system and which limit CAR T efficacy. She employs CRISPR to generate CAR T cells that can withstand the onslaught of inflammatory factors they are faced with when combined with oncolytic virus therapy. Using CRISPR screens, she aims to identify genes that either enhance or reduce CAR T cell efficacy with viral infection, and will then amplify or eliminate those genes, respectively, to create an optimized CAR T cell therapy. Dr. Evgin also aims to investigate the possibility of exploiting the endogenous T cell receptor present in CAR T cells to enhance their functionality. Specifically, she aims to use the specificity of the T cell receptor against viral proteins presented by the MHC of tumour cells infected with oncolytic viruses.
Dr. Evgin completed her PhD in the laboratory of Dr. John Bell at the University of Ottawa where she studied how neutralizing antibodies and complement limit the systemic delivery of oncolytic viruses. From there, she joined Dr. Richard Vile’s laboratory at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Her post-doctoral research focused on how oncolytic viruses could be used to amplify the reach of CAR T cells.