Our Mission

Dr. Pan has been focusing on studying the mechanisms by which cancer evades immune responses in the tumor microenvironment (TME), more specifically the contribution of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC) to tumor progression. His group is one of the first to demonstrate that MDSCs can act as a “Trojan Horse” in the delivery of oncolytic viruses or therapeutic agents used in direct tumor targeting, thereby preventing tumor metastases. His lab has also demonstrated the use of MDSC, as a cell-based tolerogenic therapy, to suppress unwanted immune responses, such as autoimmunity and graft-versus-host diseases (GVHD), while still retaining graft verse leukemia (GVL) function. More recently, Dr. Pan identified a potential role of myeloid inhibitory receptors in the maintenance of tumor-initiating cells (TIC) and radio/chemo-resistance of colon cancer.