The Sherene Loi lab team is internationally recognised for their use of genomic and immunological approaches to understand mechanisms of breast cancer growth and drug resistance.
The primary focus of the Sherene Loi lab is to develop new therapeutic approaches for breast cancer patients incorporating both genomics and immunology. The immune microenvironment plays a critical role in the prognosis of some types of breast cancers, particularly the triple-negative and HER2-positive breast cancers. At present, the aim of the lab is to understand why some patients do or do not show an immune anti-tumour response. To this purpose, we try to decipher the specific tumour-intrinsic mechanisms that lead to different breast cancer immune phenotypes. Understanding the spectrum of immune responses according to tumour genomic and immune phenotype will help us design future studies of rational combinations that can effectively reactivate beneficial anti-tumour immunity in breast cancer patients and lead to improved survival.
The Sherene Loi lab has helped to establish a method to measure immune responses in breast cancer. This method is included in a CME accredited FDA approved course. To learn more about the method visit www.tilsinbreastcancer.org
For any queries (including Student and Post Doc applications) regarding the Loi Lab, please contact Jeannette Parrodi.
Current projects
- 2018 – 2027: National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) Endowed Chair Program
- 2018 – 2023: “Understanding the tumor microenvironment and luminal subtypes in premenopausal women” (Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF))
- 2022 – 2026: “OLIO: Addressing the poor outcomes of young women with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative (HR+HER2- ) early breast cancer” (Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Clinical Trials Activity Rare Cancers, Rare Diseases and Unmet Need)
- 2021 – 2025: “Optimizing immunotherapy treatment for breast cancer patients” (National and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) Investigator Grant)
- 2020 – 2023: “A novel approach to enable CAR T cells to engage the host immune system and overcome the heterogeneity of solid tumours” (Cancer Council Victoria (CCV) Grants-in-Aid Program)