Our People
The Eyquem lab is a highly collaborative group passionate about using synthetic immunology to advance adoptive cell therapies.
Justin Eyquem, PhD
Dr. Eyquem is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Micro&Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco and an affiliated investigator at the Gladstone Institutes. He earned a PhD in molecular biology and immunology from the the University of Paris-Diderot and the biotech company Cellectis, and trained as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Michel Sadelain in the Center for Cell Engineering at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He joined UCSF as a Parker fellow in 2019 and became Assistant Professor at the UCSF-Gladstone Institute of Genomic Immunology in 2021. He is currently a member of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and UCSF ImmunoX. He was awarded the 2019 Parker Fellow Award and 2023 ASGCT Outstanding New Investigator Award.
Lab Members
Post-graduate degree in Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology, M.D. Clinical Hematology, and M.Sc. Immunology, University of Paris; Diploma of École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
Prior research: Sophie Caillat-Zucman lab (Clinical Immunology), AP-HP Saint-Louis University Hospital, Paris; INSERM UMR 976, University of Paris; Sebastian Amigorena lab, INSERM U653, Institut Curie, Paris
My current work focuses on tumor immunology and adoptive cell therapies in human cancer. I am exploring the capacities of natural killer cells as a new cellular platform for chimeric antigen receptors through targeted gene editing.
Postdoctoral Scholar, UCSF / Graduate Student, University of Paris
B.S. Biology, Duke University
Prior research: Kathy Shair lab, Micah Luftig lab
My work focuses on engineering T and NK cells for the treatment of cancer.
MSTP Student
B.S. Biology, University of California, Riverside
Prior research: Jeff Perry lab, Ryan Julian lab
In co-mentorship with the Arun Wiita lab, I am interested in studying natural ligand-receptor interactions between cancer and immune cells to engineer better synthetic immune receptors and create improved cancer immunotherapies.
MSTP Student
B.A. Molecular Biology, Scripps College
Prior research: Babak Sanii lab, Hagan Bayley lab, Michael Jensen lab
Gabby hopes to apply T-cell therapies to HIV working across the Eyquem lab and Rutishauser lab.
Graduate Student
Education: B.A. Molecular and Cell Biology, B.A. Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley
Prior research: Jason Cyster lab, Sagar Bapat lab, and Yadong Huang lab
I am interested in T cell gene editing and am working on engineering synthetic receptors.
Research Associate
Ph.D. Biological Sciences, Northwestern University; B.S. Biology, B.S. Chemistry, University of Virginia
Prior research: Joshua Leonard lab and Neda Bagheri lab
My focus is on designing, screening, and characterizing synthetic receptors and gene circuits to improve the sensitivity and specificity of engineered T cell therapies.
CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellow
Ph.D. Oncology and Immunology and M.Sc. Biomedicine, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
Prior research: Alex Espinosa lab
My focus in the Eyquem lab is to improve the function of CAR T cells in solid tumor applications by using immunocompetent mouse models and targeting metabolic functions relevant to T cells. I am also developing improved methods for generating AAV-mediated gene knock-ins, in both primary human and mouse immune cells.
Postdoctoral Scholar
B.S. Biochemistry-Molecular Biology | Emphasis in Immunology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Prior research: Dennis Clegg lab, Anthony De Tomaso lab, and Matthew Krummel lab
As an undergraduate student, my work centered on differentiating embryonic stem cells for regenerative medicine applications (Clegg lab) and mechanisms for allorecognition (De Tomaso lab). In between receiving my B.S. and pursuing my Ph.D., my work focused on defining common archetypes of immune dysfunction in human tumors and refining preclinical mouse models to best recapitulate human disease (Krummel lab). My current project aims at re-engineering T cell signaling pathways to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of CAR T cells in solid tumors.
Graduate Student
B.A. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley
Prior research: Benjamin Blackman lab, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
My research focuses on using gene editing to further adapt chimeric antigen receptors to natural killer cells.
Research Associate
B.S. Chemical-Biological Engineering and Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Prior research: Kristala Prather lab, Domitilla Del Vecchio lab
In co-mentorship with Jimmie Ye, I am focused on improving adoptive cell therapies and establishing editing strategies in immune cells.
Graduate Student
B.S. Biology, Emory University
Prior research: Alex Marson lab, Rustom Antia lab
In co-mentorship with Jimmie Ye, I am investigating the genetic circuitry of T cells using high-throughput gene editing methods.
NSF GRFP Graduate Student
B.A. Natural Sciences (Biological), University of Cambridge
Prior research: Bruno Reversade lab, Tam Wai Leong lab, Elizabeth Soilleux lab, and Anne Ferguson-Smith lab
I am interested in T cell engineering and immune cell trafficking.
Graduate Student
Alumni
B.A., Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley
Prior research: Niren Murthy lab, Russell Vance lab
I worked towards addressing tumor antigen heterogeneity using CAR and HIT T cells.
Current position: Graduate Student, UCSF
Research Associate (2019–2022), Current position: Graduate Student, UCSF
Internal medicine residency, Johns Hopkins University; M.D. New York University; A.B. Harvard University
Prior research: Dimitris Placantonakis lab, Ed Boyden lab
I worked in the laboratories of Justin Eyquem and Kole Roybal and in collaboration with the laboratories of Alex Marson and Arun Wiita on a translational research project to combine promising technologies to develop a next-generation CAR T therapy for the treatment of multiple myeloma. In parallel, I investigated the myeloma tumor microenvironment to guide CAR T development as well as the development of in vitro and in vivo models of myeloma.
Current Position: Medical Director, Bristol Myers Squibb
Clinical Fellow (2019–2020), Current Position: Medical Director, Bristol Myers Squibb
Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona
B.S. Biotechnology, San Pablo CEU University, Madrid, Spain; B.S. Pharmacy, San Pablo CEU University, Madrid, Spain
Prior research: Joaquín Arribas lab (current); Jose Jimenez Zarco lab; Estanislao Nistal Villan lab; Guillermo de la Cueva Méndez lab
My research focuses on developing novel T cell therapies against HER2+ solid tumors. My focuses at the Eyquem lab are to engineer next-generation CAR and HIT T cells and to explore new synthetic receptors and gene circuits to improve safety.
Current Position: Graduate Student, Vall D'Hebron Institute of Oncology
Visiting Graduate Student (2022), Current Position: Graduate Student, Vall D'Hebron Institute of Oncology
M.D., University of Paris; B.S. University of Rouen
Prior research: Saint-Louis Research Institute, INSERM U976 Team 5, University of Paris; Department of Immuno-Hematology, Saint-Louis Hospital, Paris
As an MD involved in the multiple myeloma field, I am working on engineering T cell therapy to treat patients with hematological disorders such as relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, using CRISPR/Cas9 technology to target BCMA tumor cells with low antigen density expression.
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Saint-Louis University Hospital, University of Paris
Postdoctoral Scholar (2020–2023), Current Position: Assistant Professor, Saint-Louis University Hospital, University of Paris
B.S. Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Los Angeles
Prior research: Lili Yang lab
My focuses in lab were developing CAR T cells targeting solid tumors, studying T cell metabolic pathways/targets, and establishing efficient knock-in platforms for various immune cells using AAVs.
Current position: Graduate Student, Yale University
Research Associate (2020–2023), Current position: Graduate Student, Yale University
Interested in working at Eyquem Lab?
We encourage UCSF graduate students to come do a rotation with us. We’re seeking postdoctoral fellows with a strong background in cellular immunology.