Sacha Gnjatic, PhD

   Dr. Sacha Gnjatic received his PhD in Immunology from the University of Paris VII after completing a fellowship at the Institut Cochin in Paris. Following a post-doctoral fellowship in Lloyd J. Old’s laboratory at Memorial Sloan-Kettering (MSKCC) in New York, Dr. Gnjatic
 was appointed to the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
 at MSKCC, where he eventually became Associate Member, and was named Director of Immunological Monitoring at the Ludwig Center for Immunotherapy.
   In 2013, Dr. Gnjatic moved to Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, where he was appointed as Associate Professor of Medicine at the Tisch Cancer Institute and Immunology Institute. In addition, he serves as Associate Director of the Human Immune Monitoring Center at Mount Sinai.
   Dr. Gnjatic focuses on human immune responses to cancer in an antigen-specific manner, to define new targets for the development of cancer immunotherapies, ask how these immunotherapies work and why they may fail. Areas of research include: Characterization of serological and cellular immune responses against tumor antigens such as MAGE-A3 or NY-ESO-1, spontaneously occurring or induced by cancer immunotherapy, using state-of-the-art T cell methods and large-scale seromic profiling; Mechanisms of antigen presentation to T cells, to evaluate viral, bacterial, and parasitic vectors, and cross-presentation of antigen to HLA; Impact of immunoregulation on tumor antigen-specific responses, from co-inhibitory molecules expressed on T cells at the tumor site to the effect of regulatory T cells and immune checkpoint blockade on anti-tumor effectors, with a recent emphasis on the role of immunosuppressive mechanisms in the tumor microenvironment. 
   Dr. Gnjatic’s research has established the immunological bases for evaluating human cancer vaccines in over 40 clinical trials. His work has resulted in more than 120 publications in high-impact peer-reviewed journals and nearly 10 patents.