By integrating leading-edge RNA design, optimization, and delivery with foundational discoveries in tumor immunology, the goal of the Basser Immune-Interception Initiative is to generate and test therapies designed to elicit immune responses specifically against early tumor-associated antigens. It will provide a platform for development, advancing the most promising basic science research findings into a preclinical screening pipeline, with the end goal of developing new, personalized cancer interception strategies for clinical trials. 

The initiative is supported over a five-year period by a $5 million grant from the Basser Center for BRCA Interception Institute and integrates scientific expertise from the Perelman School of Medicine, Abramson Cancer Center, School of Veterinary Medicine, and the Penn Institute for RNA Innovation. 

Christopher Hunter, PhD, the Mindy Halikman Heyer Distinguished Professor of Pathobiology at the School of Veterinary  Medicine, will serve as director of the Initiative. The research team consists of Mohammad-Gabriel Alameh, PhD, Anthony Phan, PhD, Robert Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, and Nobel laureate Drew Weissman, MD, PhD.