The Kidney Cancer Program (KCP) welcomes its newest investigator, Chen Yao, Ph.D.. A CPRIT (Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas) awardee and joint recruit between the KCP and the Department of Immunology, Dr. Yao joined on June 1, 2021, as an assistant professor on a tenure track. Dr. Yao earned her Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Minnesota and subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease (NIAMS), working in the Molecular Immunology and Inflammation Branch in the lab of Dr. John O’Shea.
Dr. Yao’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms by which T cells, an important arm of adaptive immunity, eradicate tumor and infected cells. She will be investigating molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the antitumor activity of stem-like CD8 T cells in clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Her goal is to uncover ways of harnessing stem-like CD8 T cells to improve immunotherapies for kidney cancer.
