Profile: Dr Astero Klampatsa

Team Leader, Thoracic Oncology Immunotherapy Team

Dr Astero Klampatsa is an immunobiology scientist, with an interest in thoracic cancers, especially mesothelioma. In 2019, she joined ICR as a Team Leader of the Thoracic Oncology Immunotherapy Team in the Division of Cancer Therapeutics.

Following her PhD in mesothelioma biology at Queen Mary’s University of London, Astero trained in CAR-T cell therapy development and biology at King’s College London and at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. In her current ICR appointment as Career Development Faculty, she works towards developing new CAR-T cell therapies for mesothelioma and lung cancer by genetically engineering T cells to specifically recognise and kill tumour cells.

“In recent years, there have been great advances in enlisting the body’s own immune system to attack cancer, marking a new era in cancer treatment. Our research is contributing to this exciting field by developing CAR-T cell immunotherapies to help patients with malignant mesothelioma and lung cancer,” she says.

Another aspect of her research aims to understand how these cancers interact with the immune system and identify markers that can predict if and how a patient’s tumour will respond to immunotherapy.

"The ICR is a world-class institute with multi-disciplinary expertise on cancer, from basic biology to development of therapeutics and clinical trials, and therefore presents an environment with highly collaborative potential that ultimately accelerates discovery. There is a great support system for young investigators and I feel that ICR is truly investing in my professional development and success.”

Profile: Dr Charlotte Pawlyn

Team Leader, Myeloma Biology and Therapeutics Team

Dr Charlotte Pawlyn is a Haematologist and CRUK Clinician Scientist with an interest in a type of blood cancer called myeloma. In 2020, she became Team Leader of the Myeloma Biology and Therapeutics Team in the Division of Cancer Therapeutics at the ICR. 

“The ICR has a great history of successfully supporting academic clinicians – and its unique alliance with the hospital enables true bench-to-bedside research,” she says. 

After completing her PhD at the ICR and a Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists, she was awarded an NIHR Clinical Lectureship position. She subsequently applied for a CRUK Clinician Scientist Fellowship, which she began in 2020 alongside her appointment as Career Development Faculty. 

“This post is allowing me to combine clinical work with my laboratory research, which is of immense value while I continue to build my independent research career,” she says. 

Charlotte feels her time at the ICR has been incredibly formative for her career to date and continues to provide an excellent environment to develop her independent translational research career, as she explains: 

“Ultimately, I want to be an academic clinician with a dual role as a haematologist in the clinic and carrying out drug development and translational research in this exciting field, aiming to improve patient care and outcomes.”