[New article available] First Author Interview: Dr Madhu Malinee

A new article has been added to “First Author Interview”. The new interview is with Dr Madhu Malinee, Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Pittsburgh.

In the series, we invite the first authors of a recently published manuscript for a letter-based interview on their work. In particular, we ask the author to tell us the behind-the-scenes story of their manuscript, as experienced personally by the author but not communicated directly in the manuscript.

Dr Madhu Malinee was a PhD student at the Graduate School of Medicine of Kyoto University. She worked on her research with iCeMS Namasivayam and Sugiyama Labs, and left for her new position at the University of Pittsburgh this fall. During her PhD, she worked on improving the efficacy of immune checkpoint (PD-1) blockade-based immunotherapy to treat cancer. She designed an epigenetic modulator, EnPGC-1, that enhances mitochondrial functions of immune CD8⁺ T cells by activating PGC-1α/β coactivator. Furthermore, she found that in vivo EnPGC-1 synergizes with PD-1 blockade therapy and enhances tumor regression and survival of tumor bearing host.