Michaela Meehl, a graduate student in the College of Graduate Health Sciences at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, has received a prestigious predoctoral fellowship from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to support her research on improving one of the most promising cancer treatments available today, known as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. The $131,712 award provides funds for three years of research.
CAR T-cell therapy is a cutting-edge treatment that uses a patient’s own immune cells, reengineered outside of the patient, to fight their cancer. A breakthrough for many patients, the results vary, even among patients receiving CAR T-cells for the same cancer. Interestingly, this phenomenon also occurs in the laboratory setting when CAR T-cells are created from healthy T-cell donors
Meehl’s research focuses on understanding why that happens. “We’ve seen that some donor T-cells lead to powerful cancer-fighting CAR T-cells, while others don’t work as well,” she explains. “This project is about understanding what makes those effective donor T-cells different.”
The project will be conducted at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, under the mentorship of Giedre Krenciute, PhD. Meehl will examine the unique phenotypes of T-cells that contribute to CAR T-cell performance. Her research will focus on characteristics such as:
- T-cell memory – how long cells "remember" and respond to threats
- Exhaustion – whether the cells wear out too quickly
- Polyfunctionality – the ability to perform multiple immune functions
- IL-9 secretion – a specific immune signal that may boost effectiveness
Meehl’s findings could help scientists design CAR T-cell therapies that are more consistent and effective across all patients. By identifying the biological traits that drive success, researchers could improve how CAR T-cells are selected, engineered, and personalized in the future.
Meehl’s award is part of the National Institutes of Health’s Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award program, commonly known as an F31 grant. These fellowships are among the most competitive research training awards for PhD students in the biomedical sciences.
