CAR T-cell therapy can be a useful tool for treating cancer. But it has limitations so far as the serious side effects it can cause. If scientists can figure out a solution, then it can pave the way for better treatment for patients with blood cancers.
Federica Ciummo, a Northeastern student pursuing her master’s degree in cell and gene therapies, worked on this over the summer. Her co-op at Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center in Madrid gave her hands-on experience working on improvements for CAR T-cell therapy.
“It was so great,” she said. “I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I had a lot of autonomy and more understanding of exactly the things I was doing (than in previous research settings).”
And the co-op was of her own creation.
Ciummo, who got her bachelors from Northeastern in behavioral neuroscience, is originally from Milan, Italy, and knew she wanted to try working closer to home when doing a co-op for her master’s degree.
“When I was in undergrad, I didn’t feel the need to go abroad, because for me, being here was my abroad experience,” she said. “But then while in my master’s, I realized maybe I want to explore somewhere else. I started looking around Europe because eventually, I do plan to move home, so I figured it’s a good way to test whether the working experience back home is feasible.”
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