Martin Lab
Principal Investigator: Timothy D. Martin
Institution: University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA)
Primary Subfield: Molecular & Cell Bio
Recruitment Status: Inquire for rotation/fellowship opportunities
Research Focus
PROJECT SUMMARY The immune system puts immense selective pressure on tumors to evolve mechanisms to avoid immunemediated cell death. While immunotherapies have been breakthrough treatments, they do not work for all patients, necessitating the identification of new strategies to turn non-responding tumors into potent responders. Utilizing in vivo CRISPR screens, we discovered that inhibition of protein UFMylation, a ubiquitin-like posttranslational modification pathway, results in tumor cell death only in the presence of a functional immune system. This project pioneers the investigation of UFMylation in cancer immunology, building on preliminary evidence that loss of UFMylation activity results in tumor microenvironment (TME) remodeling and increased MHC class I levels on tumor cells. Since the conversion of an immunologically "cold" tumor into a "hot" tumor involves complex systemic events including immune cell trafficking through circulatory and lymphatic networks that cannot be recapitulated in vitro, this project utilizes syngeneic and orthotopic mouse tumor models as these are the most scientifically rigorous methods to determine the therapeutic efficacy of UFMylation inhibiti…
Active NIH Awards
- 1R01CA300807-01A1: Defining how UFMylation pathway inhibition enhances anti-tumor immunity (2026)
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