Rony Dahan, PhD

About the Investigator:

Dr. Rony Dahan completed his BA in Molecular Biology and PhD in Molecular Immunology at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology before performing his postdoctoral work in Cancer Immunology at Rockefeller University in New York. He is currently a senior scientist in the Department of Systems Immunology at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

About the Research:

Immunotherapy is a new type of cancer treatment that activates the patient’s immune system to attack tumors. Dr. Dahan’s research focuses on targeting an immune checkpoint protein called CD40. Immune checkpoint proteins are molecules on certain immune cells that prevent the body from attacking normal, healthy cells. In the context of cancer, immune checkpoint proteins can sometimes protect tumor cells from being attacked by the immune system. Activating CD40 with a specific antibody strongly boosts the anti-tumor response, but also causes severe side effects.

During his previous ICRF grant, Dr. Dahan developed a “bispecific” antibody that avoids these toxic side effects. However, immune checkpoint antibodies alone may not be enough for many tumors. This project aims to test if cytokines — small proteins that help immune cells communicate — can enhance the anti-tumor effects of the bispecific anti-CD40 antibody.

First, Dr. Dahan’s team will test the combined effect of individual cytokines and the bispecific CD40 antibody in mouse tumor models. After identifying the most effective cytokines, they will create “fusion” proteins that combine the cytokine and the CD40 bispecific antibody into a single molecule. These fusion proteins will then be tested in mouse tumor models to see how well they activate the immune response against tumors. The knowledge gained could ultimately be used to develop new therapeutic molecules that can target tumors more effectively, thus activating immune cells at the tumor site and generating a strong anti-tumor response.