RESEARCH SUMMARY

Dr. Zacharakis is a Staff Scientist at the Surgery Branch, NCI.  His research focuses on the identification of immunogenic tumor mutations and the development of successful T cell-based therapies for patients with metastatic breast cancer. Adoptive transfer of tumor-specific T lymphocytes has mediated substantial clinical tumor regressions in breast cancer.  The goal is to advance the current and develop new immunotherapeutic approaches. He intensively studies the acceleration of the identification of neoantigens, selecting, and the growing in-vitro of the most efficacious tumor-specific T lymphocytes and investigating their in-vivo behavior.

Areas of Expertise