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Welcome to the Anderson Lab

My laboratory is focused on understanding how the immune response can be used to detect and alter cancer development. The development of effective cancer immunotherapy requires identification of target antigens, and also an understanding of the mechanisms of immune regulation that limit effective immunotherapy. We isolate and analyze the phenotype and function of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes and antigen presenting cells before and after specific immunotherapy. This includes modulation of the IL6/ STAT3 pathway to activate antigen presenting cells, and modulating the specificity of tumor antigen presentation by MHC molecules.

One challenge in tumor immunology is how to measure immune responses across the proteome.  Antibodies to tumor antigens can be detected in the blood of cancer patients, and can be used as biomarkers for early cancer detection. We use custom protein microarrays and bead-array assays to detect these antibodies, and have identified novel biomarkers for the detection of breast, ovarian, and human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers. We have a specific interest in HPV-associated cancers, and are developing functional genomic and immunomic approaches for the diagnosis and targeting of these cancers.