The immune system plays a crucial role in mediating a number of disease processes, including the development of cancers and autoimmunity. The Young Lab is dedicated to investigating strategies that modify the immune response to improve both treatment safety and efficacy for patients.
We are particularly interested in immune checkpoint inhibitors, which have been shown to improve survival across multiple cancer types but cause a broad range of autoimmune side-effects. We study clinical samples for biomarkers of susceptibility to immune-related side effects and have developed unique preclinical models to further our understanding of immune regulation in different disease settings.
We aim to better understand three areas that will allow us to create better therapeutic strategies.
- How immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced autoimmune side-effects may be decreased without affecting the therapeutic response towards tumors
- How we can overcome therapy resistance in cancer without creating increased risk of immune-related side-effects for cancer patients
- The influences of environmental factors on both anti-tumor immunity and autoimmunity
Arabella Young,
BBiotech (Hons I), PhD
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology,
Division of Microbiology and Immunology
