Dr. Pamela Ohashi Tumor immunology and immunotherapy

Vaccines and immunology are starting to play a role in cancer therapy, and this is a trend that is likely to continue. 

Dr. Ohashi and her lab are examining the potential for immune surveillance and tumour immune therapy.  Her work focuses on understanding the signaling pathways of T cells to help activate, direct and enhance anti-tumour responses in breast cancer. She was the first to show that T cells for tissue specific antigens remain ignorant of the tissue self-antigen. Dr. Ohashi, who trained under Nobel Laureate Rolf Zinkernagel, is a highly recognized scientist who has received several awards for her work in research, including the Pharmingen Investigator Award from the American Association of Immunology and a Canada Research Chair.  She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a recipient of the William E. Rawls Prize awarded by the National Cancer Institute of Canada and Eli Lilly.