Welcome to the Asimakopoulos Lab at UCSD

Our lab has two major areas of interest: 1) multiple myeloma modeling and 2) tumor microenvironment.

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1) Myeloma: Our lab focuses on multiple myeloma, the second most common blood cancer. Myeloma is a growing problem in the ageing population and despite great advances in therapy in the last 15-20 years, it remains incurable for the vast majority of patients. Despite effective modern and more traditional treatment approaches, almost all patients will see their disease come back at some point in their course. For many of our patients myeloma can become a “chronic condition”: unfortunately however, the myeloma cancer cells tend to evolve more aggressive and drug-resistant with time, and when they come back, they often come back with vengeance. We are working towards the goal of making myeloma a problem that most patients can overcome and conquer for good, through the construction and application of better myeloma animal models.

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2) Tumor microenvironment: We are interested in the regulation of homeostasis, activation and function of intratumoral dendritic cells and macrophages. The myeloid tumor infiltrate holds the secret for improved immunotherapy efficacy whether mediated through endogenous effectors (cytotoxic T cells, NK cells) or engineered effectors (CAR-T, CAR-NK). In the last few years, we have focused on mechanisms by which tumor matrix remodeling controls the polarization and function of intratumoral myeloid antigen-presenting cells.

Tyrrell and Asimakopoulos

https://uwmadscience.news.wisc.edu/health/multiple-myeloma-a-cancer-of-snipers-and-bullets/

Recent News

Congratulations to our recent PhD graduate Thanos Papadas for winning a SITC Young Investigator Award for his upcoming presentation: "Stromal remodeling controls dendritic cell abundance and activity in the tumor microenvironment" at SITC 2021!