Alicia Galdon

I graduated with a First Class BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences from The University of Manchester in 2016, which included one year working in Investigative & Translational Pathology at AstraZeneca UK. Following this, I completed my PhD in Immunology at The University of Manchester under the supervision of Professor Andrew MacDonald, graduating in 2022. In collaboration with Immodulon Therapeutics Ltd, my PhD work was fundamental in establishing the therapeutic mechanism-of-action of heat-killed Mycobacterium obuense (‘IMM-101’), a systemic, broad-spectrum immunomodulator currently in clinical trials for the treatment of a variety of solid cancers. During my PhD, I was also awarded a British Society of Immunology ‘Bright Sparks in Immunology’ prize.

My main research interests lie in the development of novel T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer (blood cancers in particular), and I joined the Borrow Group at the University of Oxford in 2023 to work as part of the newly-established NIHR Blood and Transplant Research Unit (BTRU) in Precision Cellular Therapeutics.

My current post-doctoral work in the BTRU is focussed on the development of a T cell receptor (TCR)-tranduced T cell therapy for the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Specifically, my work aims to identify peptide antigens selectively displayed on AML cells in comparison with healthy tissues, and screen these peptides to identify TCRs that have the potential to exert potent anti-leukeamic activity, without inducing graft-versus-host disease.