Front Row lecture series
Reprogramming the immune system: A new era of precision immunotherapy for cancer and autoimmune disease
Travis Young, PhD
Vice President, Biologics
Calibr-Skaggs Institute for Innovative Medicines
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
4:00 p.m. PT | 7:00 p.m. ET
Your immune system is your body’s natural defense, capable of identifying what belongs and what doesn’t. But when it falters, it can let cancer grow unchecked or mistakenly attack your own healthy tissues, leading to autoimmune diseases. What if we could reprogram the immune system to tip the balance in our favor, gaining an advantage over both cancers and autoimmune disorders? In this free Front Row lecture, Calibr-Skaggs’ vice president of biologics, Travis Young, will share how Scripps Research is using genetic engineering to reprogram patients’ own immune cells to create personalized “switchable” CAR-T cell therapies. This approach represents a new class of precision immunotherapy designed to induce deep and durable remissions in patients with a wide range of cancers, from lymphoma to breast cancer, as well as in chronic autoimmune conditions such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and systemic sclerosis. Young will explain how this breakthrough strategy works and what it could mean for the future of medicine.
Presented: August 20, 2025
Presentation slides
Key Takeaways
Your immune system is your body’s natural defense, capable of identifying what belongs and what doesn’t. But when it falters, it can let cancer grow unchecked or mistakenly attack your own healthy tissues, leading to autoimmune diseases. What if we could reprogram the immune system to tip the balance in our favor, gaining an advantage over both cancers and autoimmune disorders? In this free Front Row lecture, Calibr-Skaggs’ vice president of biologics, Travis Young, will share how Scripps Research is using genetic engineering to reprogram patients’ own immune cells to create personalized “switchable” CAR-T cell therapies. This approach represents a new class of precision immunotherapy designed to induce deep and durable remissions in patients with a wide range of cancers, from lymphoma to breast cancer, as well as in chronic autoimmune conditions such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and systemic sclerosis. Young will explain how this breakthrough strategy works and what it could mean for the future of medicine.
Speaker Spotlight
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CAR-T therapy has been transformative for patients with hematological malignancies who failed numerous prior treatments. However, conventional CAR-T therapies have not yet been as successful at treating patients with solid tumors. This challenge is what Calibr-Skaggs’ switchable CAR-T cell therapy platform was designed to address.
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FDA clears IND for clinical trial testing switchable CAR-T therapy in patients with autoimmune diseases, without chemotherapy
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Travis Young discusses reengineering an individual’s immune T cells, promising clinical trials in leukemia and lymphoma patients, and using similar approaches to treat autoimmune diseases.
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