Anna Tocheva, PhD

Anna S. Tocheva, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and a member of the Precision Immunology Institute and the Cancer Immunology Program at the The Tisch Cancer Institute. Research in the Tocheva lab is dedicated to immune checkpoint signaling and function in human T cell biology. We are specifically interested in understanding how cellular and molecular T cell differences intersect with immune checkpoint signaling to influence T cell activation and responses to immunotherapy. By leveraging these mechanistic insights, our ultimate goal is to improve patient responses to immune checkpoint-targeting immunotherapies. To achieve that, we have developed a suite of cellular and molecular immunological assays that render a granular view of T cell activation and signaling. We have established a biobank of cancer patient-derived 3D organoid-T cell co-culture models that allow personalized view of tumor-T cell interactions, and responses to immune checkpoint perturbations.

RESEARCH TOPICS: Immunology, T cells, lymphocytes, inflammation, inhibitory receptors, immune checkpoints, PD1, PD-L1, PD-L2, signaling, immunotherapy, cancer, organoid modeling, personalized medicine, cancer immuno-biology, translational research