Research

Research topics for the Copik Lab

Innovation of methods for adoptive NK cell therapy with PM-particle platform
Preclinical evaluation of particle expanded NK cells for treatment of leukemia and ovarian cancer in NSG murine model (collaboration with Dr. Altomare)
Development of clinical treatment methods of AML (collaboration with Dean Lee, MD. Ph.D. at Nationwide Children’s and Ahmed Zakari at Florida Hospital Cancer Institute) and ovarian cancer (collaboration with Dr. Dean Lee and Dr. John Hays, MD .Ph.D. at OSU James Cancer Center)
Better understanding of NK cell biology to improve potency for killing tumors
- Interplay with other immune cell populations
- Metabolic reprogramming to overcome hypoxia
- Molecular basis for the selective targeting of malignant cells
- Methods to increase the cytotoxicity of NK cells against tumor cells
Therapeutic strategies to improve NK cells as-cancer immunotherapy (e.g. combination therapies with drugs, oncolytic viruses, photodynamic therapy etc.) (collaborators Dr. Annette Khaled, Dr. Griff Parks and Dr. Andre Gesquiere)

Other early stage projects

Cancers being actively studied with NK cell therapy:

Other publicity:

http://poland.pl/science/achievements-science/natural-killer-cell-technology-stop-cancer-gets-licensed/

Collaborators

Deborah A. Altomare, UCF: Dr. Altomare lab website
Annette Khaled, UCF
Griff Parks, UCF
Dean A. Lee, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH https://cancer.osu.edu/news-and-media/news/dean-lee-to-lead-cell-therapy-programs-at-nationwide-childrens-and-osuccc-james
John L. Hays, Ohio state University, Columbus, OH https://cancer.osu.edu/research-and-education/find-a-researcher/search-researcher-directory/john-l-hays

Ahmed Zakari, MD, Florida Hospital Cancer Institute http://www.cancerinstituteofflorida.com/medical-team/ahmed-zakari
Qun (Treen) Huo, UCF, http://www.nanoscience.ucf.edu/faculty/huo.php
Andre Gesquiere, UCF,http://www.nanoscience.ucf.edu/faculty/gesquiere.php