Illuminating the Tumor Microenvironment Using Multiplex IF: Astronomy Accelerates Pathology

Dr. Alexander Szalay, is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, the Alumni Centennial Professor of Astronomy, and Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University. He is the Director of the Institute for Data Intensive Science. He is a cosmologist, working on the statistical measures of the spatial distribution of galaxies and galaxy formation. He is a Corresponding Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Read more about Dr. Szalay.

Dr. Janis Taube is the director of Dermatopathology Division and Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  Her research interests center on immune evasion by solid tumors, specifically studying the PD-L1/PD-1 axis, and the identification of potential biomarkers of response to novel immunotherapies. This requires a focus on immunohistochemical and molecular methods for identifying cell surface antigens and signaling pathways in paraffin-embedded tissue. Dr. Taube’s laboratory described PD-L1-mediated adaptive immune resistance by melanoma, a finding that has now been extended to other tumor types. She also developed a robust immunohistochemistry assay and interpretation methods for studying PD-L1 as it relates to therapeutic response. Versions of this assay are now approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for clinical use. Her ongoing research efforts focus on further characterizing the local tumor microenvironment using multiplex immunofluorescence with the aim of developing rational treatment combinations and improving patient selection algorithms. Read more about Dr. Taube.