| Speaker: |
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Prof. Li Tang
Associate Professor,
Institute of Bioengineering (IBI) / Institute of Materials Science & Engineering (IMX);
Vice Dean for Innovation,
School of Life Sciences,
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
Abstract:
My lab employs multidimensional immunoengineering to develop next-generation cancer therapies by targeting the biological, chemical, and physical interactions between immunity and disease. In this talk, I will first present our discovery of a novel, mechanically mediated immune checkpoint, distinct from conventional biochemical pathways, and our therapeutic strategies to block it. I will then discuss how type 2 cytokines (IL-10/IL-4) act as metabolic reprogramming agents, reinvigorating exhausted T cells. We have applied this insight to create metabolically armored, IL-10-secreting CAR-T cells that resist dysfunction in suppressive tumor environments. This novel therapy shows promising efficacy and safety in ongoing IIT clinical trials (NCT06393335, NCT05715606, NCT05747157, NCT06120166, NCT06277011) for relapsed/refractory B-cell malignancies and lupus.
Bio:
Prof. Li Tang is an Associate Professor at EPFL’s Institute of Bioengineering (since 2022), where he also serves as Vice Dean for Innovation in the School of Life Sciences and is Co‑Founder & Chair of Leman Biotech. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Peking University (2007) and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2012), followed by a CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship at MIT. Prof. Tang’s research in immunoengineering has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards including the ERC Consolidator Grant (2025) and Starting Grant (2018), Leenaards Prize (2025), Friedrich Miescher Award (2025), Highly Cited Researcher Award (2025), and Lem Prize (2025), and was named to MIT “Top 35 Innovators Under 35” in China (2020).
Details
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| Venue: |
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Seminar Room 4,
4/F, 3 Sassoon Road,
Pokfulam,
Hong Kong SAR, China
All are welcome
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