# Human Immunology Core

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2022 · $2,136

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY – Human Immunology Core
The Human Immunology Core (HIC) in the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) is one of the first and most active
immune monitoring core facilities in the United States. The HIC mission is to provide wet bench expertise for
the incorporation of the newest technologies into Phase I/II clinical trials using validated immunology assays,
while also offering expert scientific and technical consultation to investigators conducting translational
research. Services provided by the HIC are scientific consultation, sample processing, viable cell preservation
and storage, standard, customized and novel assays in cellular and molecular immunology, data analysis, and
human cell products. The HIC can perform studies on a pilot research basis or at the standard of Good
Laboratory Practices, as needed. The Scientific Director of the HIC is Dr. Eline T. Luning Prak, Professor of
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, who is a clinical pathologist with 20 years of clinical lab experience and
research expertise in B lymphocyte biology and immune repertoire profiling. Under her leadership, the HIC
substantially expanded its sample accessioning and processing services, created several multicolor
immunophenotyping panels for human immune cell subsets, and developed a suite of sophisticated antibody
and T cell receptor repertoire profiling assays, including high-complexity immune data analysis capabilities.
Core Technical Director Dr. Ling Zhao has expertise in oncogenomics and single cell assays and spearheaded
the development and implementation of ultrasensitive protein detection assays. Associated Faculty member
Dr. James Riley, Associate Professor of Microbiology, has expertise in lymphocyte isolation, regulatory T-cell
biology and T-cell responses in cancer and chronic viral infection. Dr. Riley oversees the cell products service.
ACC members accounted for 74 of 173 investigators (43%) using the Shared Resource during the most recent
reporting period (07/01/18-06/30/19). Investigators from seven Programs use the HIC—Cancer Therapeutics,
Hematologic Malignancies, Immunobiology, Pediatric Oncology, Radiobiology and Imaging, Tobacco and
Environmental Carcinogenesis, and Tumor Biology. Since the last renewal, the HIC provided support for more
than 290 research projects, including 61 ACC clinical trials, and provided more than 500 scientific
consultations, including assistance with 74 grant applications. Services provided by the HIC support multiple
high-impact research studies; for example, methods developed in the HIC were also used to create an atlas of
large expanded B-cell clones in the human body, using tissues from organ donors (Meng et al., Nat Biotech,
2017). The HIC has a highly skilled team of scientists who help ACC investigators tackle the experimental
design, logistical arrangements and bench work for immunology projects large and small.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10330983
- **Project number:** 5P30CA016520-46
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** ELINE Tjetske LUNING PRAK
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $2,136
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1997-01-15 → 2025-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10330983

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10330983, Human Immunology Core (5P30CA016520-46). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10330983. Licensed CC0.

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