About this Class

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has launched a new virtual seminar series titled NCI Rising Scholars: Cancer Research Seminar Series. This monthly seminar series is an opportunity to highlight the research and the important contributions made by NCI-supported postdoctoral fellows and early career investigators at NCI laboratories and NCI-funded institutions nationwide. Speaker: Ajit Johnson Nirmal, Ph.D. Instructor in Medicine Harvard Medical School and Dana Farber Cancer Institute In this seminar, NCI K99/R00 Awardee Dr. Ajit Johnson Nirmal from Harvard Medical School and Dana Farber Cancer Institute will discuss his research from the following publication: Spatial landscape of progression and immunoediting in primary melanoma at single cell resolution. Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that can be cured if caught early but can be life-threatening if it spreads. In this study, Dr. Nirmal and his team used a combination of imaging and sequencing technology to study how melanoma interacts with its microenvironment. They found that the organization of cancer cells, immune cells, and other cells in the body changes as melanoma progresses. In early stages, there are signs that the immune system is being suppressed. When melanoma becomes invasive, specific areas form where the immune system is suppressed, and cancer cells can grow and spread. However, a short distance away, there are also areas where the immune system fights cancer. This shows that cancer and the immune system can coexist and evolve together. This type of study helps understand how cancer can avoid being destroyed by the immune system.