Dr. Sandra Demaria and her team at Weill Cornell Medicine, NY, will investigate the effect of LTX-315 in combination with irradiation on primary tumor and lung metastasis in poorly immunogenic mouse breast cancer models.

“We are very excited about the scientific collaboration with Sandra Demaria,” says CSO and Professor Øystein Rekdal. “Working with highly recognized researcher like Dr. Demaria gives Lytix an excellent opportunity to further evaluate the potential of LTX-315 to reprogramming the tumor tissue and enhancing responsiveness to other types of immunotherapy.”

Dr. Demaria is focusing on understanding pre-clinically how radiation modulates tumor immunogenicity and how the property of radiation can improve the response to immunotherapy. In 2015, Dr. Demaria was recruited to lead the basic and preclinical studies of the research program in radiation and immunity created by Dr. Silvia Formenti at Weill Cornell Medicine.

As a breast cancer pathologist, Dr. Demaria has also studied the immunological microenvironment of breast cancer in patients and she is a member of an international tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TILs) working group focused on developing a consensus for the evaluation of TILs in breast cancer. She holds leadership positions in national professional societies, including the Radiation Research Society, where she served as a Council member from 2009-2012, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) where she currently serves on the Board, and is currently a member of the Steering Committee of AACR Cancer Immunology Working Group.