Pre-med student investigates mechanism of non-responsiveness to tumor immunotherapy

Joshua Elmer ’20 recently presented the results of his Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  He was one of 145 SURF students selected from 1366 applicants to participate in the 10-week research experience.  Under the mentorship of Haidong Dong MD, PhD, Professor of Immunology at Mayo Clinic, Josh investigated gene expression in the T cells of cancer patients who fail to respond to the increasingly utilized PD-1 blockade immunotherapy.  Josh was also featured on the Mayo Graduate Education Facebook page describing the significance of his SURF research opportunity.  At SLU, Josh has conducted research with Dr. Kari Heckman in the biology department since he was a sophomore and was also the recipient of a St. Lawrence University Fellowship during summer 2018.  Josh is currently applying to medical school and plans to continue to pursue his interest in immunology and therapeutics in the future.