Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, is a head and neck surgical oncologist with an NIH R01 funded basic/translational immunology laboratory. He is the director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hillman Cancer Center, a Hillman professor of oncology, associate vice chancellor for cancer research, codirector of the Tumor Microenvironment Center, and a professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, of Immunology, and of Radiation Oncology.
AlphaFold AI Sets Stage for Future Approaches in Cancer
December 6th 2024The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry highlights AI-driven breakthroughs in computational protein design and structure prediction. Tools like AlphaFold promise faster development of targeted cancer drugs and transformative advances in oncology and medicine.
Bispecific Antibodies and ADCs Deliver a Futuristic Horizon Across Lung Cancer Settings
October 23rd 2024Recent advancements in protein engineering, especially antibody-drug conjugates, show promise in lung cancer treatment, with ivonescimab outperforming pembrolizumab in PD-L1-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
Use of ctDNA Will Make Inroads in 2023 and Beyond
March 4th 2023the tremendous scientific developments in ctDNA, including genetic and epigenetic alterations, which are detectable in the blood—the so-called liquid biopsy—or multicancer early detection tests, represent a revolution that seems to be rapidly emerging on the horizon.
Excitement Shown With New NCI Director But Uncertainty Looms at Launch of the ARPA-H Institute
October 19th 2022The oncology community has enjoyed success to a large degree through the existing NIH and NCI mechanisms. Will they ask how can they work with us in a concerted fashion to benefit new discoveries, novel translation in well-designed clinical trials, and eventual development of exciting, more effective cancer therapies for patients?
Promising Findings From DESTINY-Breast04 Trial Energizes ASCO Meeting
July 22nd 2022Harnessing existing and otherwise safe antibody-targeting strategies and combining them with chemotherapy or other bioactive compounds or as a bispecific dual antibody moiety are an exciting strategy of protein engineering that is emerging and coming into its own in oncology.
Promising Approaches That Use Targeted Therapy Combinations Are Explored at GI, GU Symposia
April 7th 2022Using combination treatments in the concurrent setting with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or small molecule oncogene and pathway inhibitors may yield positive data in one setting but not another.
After More Than 30 Years, Research on HER2 Continues to Expand Our Understanding of Cancer
July 3rd 2021It has taken some decades, but the identification of targets such as HER2 has enabled us to segregate cancers into different subtypes, develop novel therapeutic strategies, and eventually understand the biology distinguishing one group of patients from another, says Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD.
Unique Immunotherapy Combinations Come to the Forefront at SITC Meeting
January 27th 2021In this trial, the previous observation of liver toxicity using CD137 agonism was not observed, suggesting a safe neoadjuvant dosing. Indeed, 30% of patients demonstrated pathologic responses. Further research may combine a way of overcoming immune checkpoint pathways with stimulatory agonists.
Lessons From Clinical Trial Setbacks Lead to Next Phase of Oncologic Advances
October 4th 2020In the wake of the enthusiasm around cancer immunotherapy trial results—with several positive trials presented annually at each American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in more and more diseases over several years—setbacks have served as a grim reminder that our work is not finished.