Dr. Ma’s laboratory focuses on immune engineering, an emerging field at the interface of immunology and multiple engineering disciplines. His research involves dissecting immune cell crosstalk in normal and pathological conditions using genetic and engineering tools and leveraging these crosstalk mechanisms to develop novel precision immunotherapies. Specifically, his current research focuses on developing novel biomaterial-based synthetic vaccines to enhance adoptive T cell therapy (e.g., CAR T, Treg, and TIL therapy), engineering therapeutic proteins via directed evolution, and developing novel tumor microenvironment-responding cell therapies.

Notable career achievements:

American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (2019)

NIAID New Innovators Award/DP2 (2021, Impact Score 14)

BS, Shandong Normal University, China (Biosciences and Bioengineering), 2008

PhD, University of Massachusetts Medical School (Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology), 2016

Fellowship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Immune Engineering), 2021

Assistant Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Biomedical Engineering Society, 2018-

Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research, 2014

American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, 2019-2021

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