# Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Design Through Living Cell Systems Biology

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2020 · $123,060

## Abstract

Project Summary
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells represent an exciting technology for targeting drug-resistant cancers.
These cells have been developed to effectively target hematological malignancies, however have yet to find
clinical success against solid tumors, which account for the majority of cancer mortality. Solid tumors have
myriad immunosuppressive mechanisms that prevent effective CAR T cell therapies, and new methods are
needed to both elucidate these mechanisms as well as direct the engineering of these cells towards targeting
solid tumors. This proposal will take an integrated bioinformatic approach to identifying adjuvant targets to
enhance CAR T cell therapy at the site of a solid tumor or early metastatic site. Stromal and immune cells will
be sequenced at the single cell level at these sites and compared to efficacy of CAR T cell therapy. These
sequencing results will guide live cell imaging experiments, in which key transcription factors and effector
proteins will be dynamically imaged in CAR T cells in culture as they recognize and target antigen-producing
cells. Computational integration of these disparate datasets will result in adjuvant targets that will be built into
the CAR design. These new constructs will be validated both in vitro and in vivo and will provide the basis for
more advanced clinically available CAR T cell therapies.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10019545
- **Project number:** 5K01EB028877-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Joseph Thomas Decker
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $123,060
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-30 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10019545

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10019545, Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Design Through Living Cell Systems Biology (5K01EB028877-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10019545. Licensed CC0.

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