1. Pathology of multiple myeloma and drug resistance mechanisms: multiple myeloma is the second most frequent hematological malignancy. Although significant survival improvements in the years have been seen, relapsed/refractory is still very challenging, with poor response rates and no chance for cure. Drug resistance is the leading cause of a relapsed/refractory disease, and it can ultimately decrease survival. MM patients can develop drug resistance after a few cycles of therapy in a variable manner.Our data show that the activation of autophagy, especially mitophagy and ER-phagy, are important for the developing of drug resistance. We are investigating how mitophagy and ER-phagy work with ER stress signaling to modulate MM cell survival.

2. NK-based immunotherapy for cancers: our immune system is important for our health protecting us from infection/cancer, but inappropriate immune responses cause us harm. My research group wants to understand how to control immune cells and is now revealing the importance of cellular metabolism. We are revealing novel strategies to modulate immune cell function through targeting cellular metabolism and new therapeutic opportunities are being explored. Our data show following activation NK cells, with important anti-cancer and anti-viral functions, undergo robust metabolic changes.We are exploring how NK cell metabolism might be manipulated to improve NK cell-based anti-cancer immunotherapies.

3. Antiviral Immunology