Dr. Shahar Alon was Awarded an ERC Grant for his Research on the Interaction Between Immune and Tumor cells

Dr. Shahar Alon from the Alexander Kofkin Faculty of Engineering at Bar Ilan University was awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant of nearly 2 million euros. This prestigious grant is given to young scientists to support their cutting-edge, groundbreaking research.

Dr. Alon's study deals with the interactions which occur at the cellular level between tumors and the immune system. Dr. Alon's research focuses on deciphering “detection-without-activation” events of the immune system; physical encounters between immune cells and tumor cells that do not lead to an immune cell activation. These inactive encounters, which are rarely studied, may prove the key to understanding tumor evasion tactics. In order to answer this question, Dr. Alon has developed an innovative technology that enables the generation of the first-ever dataset of super-resolved spatial genomics mapping of human tumor biopsies. In addition, Dr. Alon plans to develop an advanced imaging technology capable of sequencing T and B cell receptors, the immune system cells, in order to identify tumor-specific receptors and deepen the understanding of the interrelationship between the cells of the immune system and cancer.

The results of Dr. Alon's research will advance the deciphering of the mechanisms of tumor evasion, paving the way for new treatments against cancer disease.

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