Our People

The Eyquem lab is a highly collaborative group passionate about using synthetic immunology to advance adoptive cell therapies.

Headshot of Justin Eyquem

Justin Eyquem, PhD

Principal Investigator

Dr. Eyquem is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Micro&Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco and an affiliated investigator at the Gladstone Institutes. He earned a PhD in molecular biology and immunology from the the University of Paris-Diderot and the biotech company Cellectis, and trained as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Michel Sadelain in the Center for Cell Engineering at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He joined UCSF as a Parker fellow in 2019 and became Assistant Professor at the UCSF-Gladstone Institute of Genomic Immunology in 2021. He is currently a member of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and UCSF ImmunoX. He was awarded the 2019 Parker Fellow Award and 2023 ASGCT Outstanding New Investigator Award.

Lab Members

Vincent Allain
Postdoctoral Scholar, UCSF / Graduate Student, University of Paris
vincent.allain@ucsf.edu

Post-graduate degree in Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology, M.D. Clinical Hematology, and M.Sc. Immunology, University of Paris; Diploma of École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France

Prior research: Sophie Caillat-Zucman lab (Clinical Immunology), AP-HP Saint-Louis University Hospital, Paris; INSERM UMR 976, University of Paris; Sebastian Amigorena lab, INSERM U653, Institut Curie, Paris

My current work focuses on tumor immunology and adoptive cell therapies in human cancer. I am exploring the capacities of natural killer cells as a new cellular platform for chimeric antigen receptors through targeted gene editing.

Vincent Allain

Postdoctoral Scholar, UCSF / Graduate Student, University of Paris

Amrik Kang
MSTP Student
amrik.kang@ucsf.edu

B.S. Biology, University of California, Riverside

Prior research: Jeff Perry lab, Ryan Julian lab

In co-mentorship with the Arun Wiita lab, I am interested in studying natural ligand-receptor interactions between cancer and immune cells to engineer better synthetic immune receptors and create improved cancer immunotherapies.

Amrik Kang

MSTP Student

Gabriella Kimmerly
Graduate Student
gabriella.kimmerly@ucsf.edu

B.A. Molecular Biology, Scripps College

Prior research: Babak Sanii lab, Hagan Bayley lab, Michael Jensen lab

Gabby hopes to apply T-cell therapies to HIV working across the Eyquem lab and Rutishauser lab.

Gabriella Kimmerly

Graduate Student

Chang Liu
Research Associate
chang.liu2@ucsf.edu

Education: B.A. Molecular and Cell Biology, B.A. Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley

Prior research: Jason Cyster lab, Sagar Bapat lab, and Yadong Huang lab

I am interested in T cell gene editing and am working on engineering synthetic receptors.

Chang Liu

Research Associate

Joseph Muldoon
CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellow
joseph.muldoon@ucsf.edu

Ph.D. Biological Sciences, Northwestern University; B.S. Biology, B.S. Chemistry, University of Virginia

Prior research: Joshua Leonard lab and Neda Bagheri lab

My focus is on designing, screening, and characterizing synthetic receptors and gene circuits to improve the sensitivity and specificity of engineered T cell therapies.

Joseph Muldoon

CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellow

Gabi Reeder
Graduate Student
gabriella.reeder@ucsf.edu

B.S. Biochemistry-Molecular Biology | Emphasis in Immunology, University of California, Santa Barbara

Prior research: Dennis Clegg lab, Anthony De Tomaso lab, and Matthew Krummel lab

As an undergraduate student, my work centered on differentiating embryonic stem cells for regenerative medicine applications (Clegg lab) and mechanisms for allorecognition (De Tomaso lab). In between receiving my B.S. and pursuing my Ph.D., my work focused on defining common archetypes of immune dysfunction in human tumors and refining preclinical mouse models to best recapitulate human disease (Krummel lab). My current project aims at re-engineering T cell signaling pathways to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of CAR T cells in solid tumors.

Gabi Reeder

Graduate Student

Allison Rothrock
Research Associate
allison.rothrock@ucsf.edu

B.A. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley

Prior research: Benjamin Blackman lab, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

My research focuses on using gene editing to further adapt chimeric antigen receptors to natural killer cells.

Allison Rothrock

Research Associate

Luis Sandoval
Graduate Student
luis.sandoval@ucsf.edu

B.S. Chemical-Biological Engineering and Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Prior research: Kristala Prather lab, Domitilla Del Vecchio lab

In co-mentorship with Jimmie Ye, I am focused on improving adoptive cell therapies and establishing editing strategies in immune cells.

Luis Sandoval

Graduate Student

Charlotte Wang
NSF GRFP Graduate Student
charlotte.wang@ucsf.edu

B.S. Biology, Emory University

Prior research: Alex Marson lab, Rustom Antia lab

In co-mentorship with Jimmie Ye, I am investigating the genetic circuitry of T cells using high-throughput gene editing methods.

Charlotte Wang

NSF GRFP Graduate Student

William Xie
Graduate Student
william.xie2@ucsf.edu

B.A. Natural Sciences (Biological), University of Cambridge

Prior research: Bruno Reversade lab, Tam Wai Leong lab, Elizabeth Soilleux lab, and Anne Ferguson-Smith lab

I am interested in T cell engineering and immune cell trafficking.

William Xie

Graduate Student

Alumni

Chris Chang
MSTP Student
chris.chang@ucsf.edu

B.S. Biology, Duke University

Prior research: Kathy Shair lab, Micah Luftig lab

My work focuses on engineering T and NK cells for the treatment of cancer.

Chris Chang

MSTP Student

William Nyberg
Postdoctoral Scholar
william.nyberg@ucsf.edu

Ph.D. Oncology and Immunology and M.Sc. Biomedicine, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

Prior research: Alex Espinosa lab

My focus in the Eyquem lab is to improve the function of CAR T cells in solid tumor applications by using immunocompetent mouse models and targeting metabolic functions relevant to T cells. I am also developing improved methods for generating AAV-mediated gene knock-ins, in both primary human and mouse immune cells.

William Nyberg

Postdoctoral Scholar

Jing-Yi Chung
Research Associate (2019–2022), Current position: Graduate Student, UCSF
jing-yi.chung@ucsf.edu

B.A., Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley

Prior research: Niren Murthy lab, Russell Vance lab

I worked towards addressing tumor antigen heterogeneity using CAR and HIT T cells.

Current position: Graduate Student, UCSF

Jing-Yi Chung

Research Associate (2019–2022), Current position: Graduate Student, UCSF

August Dietrich
Clinical Fellow (2019–2020), Current Position: Medical Director, Bristol Myers Squibb

Internal medicine residency, Johns Hopkins University; M.D. New York University; A.B. Harvard University

Prior research: Dimitris Placantonakis lab, Ed Boyden lab

I worked in the laboratories of Justin Eyquem and Kole Roybal and in collaboration with the laboratories of Alex Marson and Arun Wiita on a translational research project to combine promising technologies to develop a next-generation CAR T therapy for the treatment of multiple myeloma. In parallel, I investigated the myeloma tumor microenvironment to guide CAR T development as well as the development of in vitro and in vivo models of myeloma.

Current Position: Medical Director, Bristol Myers Squibb

August Dietrich

Clinical Fellow (2019–2020), Current Position: Medical Director, Bristol Myers Squibb

Macarena Roman
Visiting Graduate Student (2022), Current Position: Graduate Student, Vall D'Hebron Institute of Oncology
macarenagloria.romanalonso@ucsf.edu

Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona

B.S. Biotechnology, San Pablo CEU University, Madrid, Spain; B.S. Pharmacy, San Pablo CEU University, Madrid, Spain

Prior research: Joaquín Arribas lab (current); Jose Jimenez Zarco lab; Estanislao Nistal Villan lab; Guillermo de la Cueva Méndez lab

My research focuses on developing novel T cell therapies against HER2+ solid tumors. My focuses at the Eyquem lab are to engineer next-generation CAR and HIT T cells and to explore new synthetic receptors and gene circuits to improve safety.

Current Position: Graduate Student, Vall D'Hebron Institute of Oncology

Macarena Roman

Visiting Graduate Student (2022), Current Position: Graduate Student, Vall D'Hebron Institute of Oncology

Alexis Talbot
Postdoctoral Scholar (2020–2023), Current Position: Assistant Professor, Saint-Louis University Hospital, University of Paris
alexis.talbot@ucsf.edu

M.D., University of Paris; B.S. University of Rouen

Prior research: Saint-Louis Research Institute, INSERM U976 Team 5, University of Paris; Department of Immuno-Hematology, Saint-Louis Hospital, Paris

As an MD involved in the multiple myeloma field, I am working on engineering T cell therapy to treat patients with hematological disorders such as relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, using CRISPR/Cas9 technology to target BCMA tumor cells with low antigen density expression.

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Saint-Louis University Hospital, University of Paris

Alexis Talbot

Postdoctoral Scholar (2020–2023), Current Position: Assistant Professor, Saint-Louis University Hospital, University of Paris

Angela To
Research Associate (2020–2023), Current position: Graduate Student, Yale University
angela.to@ucsf.edu

B.S. Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Los Angeles

Prior research: Lili Yang lab

My focuses in lab were developing CAR T cells targeting solid tumors, studying T cell metabolic pathways/targets, and establishing efficient knock-in platforms for various immune cells using AAVs.

Current position: Graduate Student, Yale University

Angela To

Research Associate (2020–2023), Current position: Graduate Student, Yale University

Interested in working at Eyquem Lab?

We encourage UCSF graduate students to come do a rotation with us. We’re seeking postdoctoral fellows with a strong background in cellular immunology.