Jongbok Lee, PhD

The ability of immune cells to target cancer cells has revolutionized cancer treatments. Adoptive cellular therapy (ACT) directly utilizes immune cells to treat cancers as living drugs and offers promising treatment strategies for some patients with no alternative options. Dr. Jongbok Lee’s research focuses on developing novel ACT using a subset of immune cells called double-negative T cells (DNT).

Dr. Lee completed his Ph.D. degree at the University of Toronto, focusing on understanding the safety and efficacy of allogeneic DNT therapy against AML and studying its potential to be used as an off-the-shelf therapy using preclinical models. Next, he continued his post-doctoral research at University Health Network to demonstrate the potential of combining DNT with Venetoclax (Bcl-2 inhibitor) and Azacytidine (hypomethylating drug) and with Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) technology and to elucidate mechanisms involved in DNT-AML interaction. Further, he was involved in the completion of a phase I clinical trial to demonstrate the feasibility, safety, and potential efficacy of allogeneic DNT therapy for AML patients who relapsed after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Dr. Lee aims to identify the underlying mechanisms involved in DNT-mediate anti-cancer activities to allow the development of more precise therapeutic approaches using DNTs. His research objective is to develop a novel ACT strategy using DNTs to positively impact patients’ lives.