Atique Ahmed
My research experience lies in the area of molecular therapy for cancer, with emphasis on the development of novel targeted gene therapies and the host immune response against the viral vectors. As a young adult, I witnessed my father battle malignant brain cancer and unfortunately, the disease ended up killing him. This experience had a profound impact on my research interests as I began my quest to develop targeted therapies that would be less toxic to cancer patient. I became interested in cancer gene therapy/oncolytic viruses during my PhD work. However, as the field of cancer gene therapy traveled form the bench top to the bedside in the past decade, it has become convincingly clear that we need to overcome the host immune barrier against the therapeutic viral vector in order to treat patients successfully. Now, here at the University of Chicago Brain Tumor Center, I am presented with the perfect opportunity to make a mark in this area by allowing me to combine a decade worth of my unique research experiences.