Akshaya A. 2024 | BASIS Independent Silicon Valley
- Project Title: A Combination Therapy for Non-small Cell Lung Cancer
- BASIS Independent Advisor: Karen Allendoerfer
- Onsite Mentor: Dr. John Santiago
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, with a mortality rate of 51.6 per 100,000 for men and 34.4 per 100,000 for women. Out of these, about 85% of cases are non-small cell lung cancer, a more common and less aggressive type. Yet, treatments for lung cancer are not extremely effective in combating the lung cancer cells. I will be focusing on immunotherapy, a type of treatment used for cancers that essentially activates T-cells to attack cancer cells. The goal of this project is to improve the efficiency of the immunotherapeutic drug, ipilimumab, against lung cancer, by combining it with an anti-cancer vaccine.