Choi (Jaehyuk) Lab
Pioneering therapies for immune-related diseases.
About Us
The goal of the Choi Lab at UT Southwestern to develop novel therapies for immune-related diseases by engineering novel solutions. To accomplish this, we first utilize high-dimensional approaches on human disease to identify targetable disease-promoting molecular defects. Second, we utilize engineering approaches to reverse these molecular changes.
The goal is to translate these findings to first-in-human clinical trials.
Meet the PI
Jaehyuk Choi, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Choi the inaugural Director of the new Center for Cellular Therapies and Cancer Immunology in the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center. He also serves as Vice Chair for Translational Research and Innovation in the Department of Dermatology and holds the Scheryle Simmons Patigian Distinguished Chair in Cancer Immunobiology. After completing undergraduate studies in biochemistry at Harvard University, Dr. Choi earned his medical degree and Ph.D. in immunobiology from Yale University School of Medicine. He has been recognized with a number of awards, including the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award (2016), the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (2017), and the Mark Foundation Emerging Leader Award (2022).
Lab News
Choi recruited to lead new Center for Cellular Therapies and Cancer Immunology
Jaehyuk Choi, M.D., Ph.D., a physician-scientist whose discoveries have transformed the field of cancer immunology, has begun his new role as the inaugural Director of the Center for Cellular Therapies and Cancer Immunology in the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UT Southwestern. He also serves as Vice Chair for Translational Research and Innovation in the Department of Dermatology.
Scientists say they have identified a root cause of lupus - one that could pave the way for new treatments
An imbalance of T cells, which play a key role in the body’s immune response, could explain most cases of the disease, according to new research.
Stealing Strategies from Cancerous T Cells May Boost Immunotherapy
For some people with blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, CAR T-cell therapies have proven to be a transformative treatment. But for solid tumors like breast, colorectal, or pancreatic cancer, which make up about 90% of cancer cases, success with T-cell therapies has been harder to come by.
Naturally occurring T cell mutations enhance engineered T cell therapies
T cell therapies have revolutionized cancer therapy for haematological cancers but have not yet been consistently effective in solid tumours, which represent 90% of adult cancers3. In both solid tumours and treatment-resistant haematological malignancies, they are limited by a combination of factors, including poor in vivo persistence, immunosuppressive environmental factors and T cell exhaustion4.