Mr Kian Quest

(he/him)

Overview

I am a PhD student working in Dr Lee Parry's lab at the Haydn Ellis building. My research focuses on the design of an oncotropic bacterial immunotherapy for a range of cancer types. My project focuses on the use of an attenuated oncotropic strain of Salmonella typhimurium as a targeted delivery system for shRNA against PD-L1. PD-L1 is an immune checkpoint protien often overexpressed in tumours to avoid immune detection and inhibit T cell activity. While immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting PD-L1 have shown promise, their use in tumours with poor immune cell infiltration (immune cold) is limited. 

By leveraging the tumour targeting ability of salmonella typhimurium, this approach aims to directly suppress PD-L1 expression at the transcriptional level. thereby enhancing immunogenicity and promoting an anti-tumour immune response mediated by effector immune cells. The goal is to overcome resistance and deliver a locally acting immune modulation strategy.