Dr. Rebecca Auer

Research Interests

Main Research Questions:

The primary goal of the Auer Translational Research Lab is to identify the underlying mechanisms that contribute to immune dysfunction in cancer patients with the ultimate goal of identifying strategies to promote immune-mediated clearance of tumour cells. Current research efforts can be categorized into two main pillars:

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1) Investigation of the mechanisms leading to NK cell dysfunction in patients undergoing surgical resection of abdominal malignancies.

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2) Development of immunotherapeutic strategies, including autologous infected cell vaccines, for the purpose of improving immune mediated clearance of peritoneal carcinomatosis associated with cancers of the abdomen.

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The lab routinely uses multi-colour flow cytometric methods to assess NK cell function and cytotoxic activity in murine and patient samples. In addition, the lab has expertise in the development and production of oncolytic viruses.