Research summary
Cancer immunotherapies are promising new drug-based treatments that use a person’s own immune system to fight cancer. Dr. Trevor Pugh, Canada Research Chair in Translational Genomics, aims to understand the effects of targeted and immune cancer therapies at the single-cell level.
He and his research team are determining whether cell-free DNA can infer how immune responses are mounted against cancers at their earliest stages. By implementing single-cell sequencing, they are trying to identify early indicators within tumours that signal the progression or regression of cancer. Pugh and his team are also establishing cell-free DNA cancer and immune repertoire sequencing for early detection and monitoring. In addition, they are developing data-sharing and integration systems to drive the use of cancer genome technologies for clinical tests that will directly affect patient care.