Dr. Young Kim, Professor of Otolaryngology and co-leader of the Translational Research and Interventional Oncology Research Program, is a clinician-scientist focused on the development of immunotherapeutic modalities for solid tumors.
As a surgeon who treats patients with head and neck cancer, Kim approaches research from a translational standpoint to understand the relationship between neoplastic transformation and the host immune response.
His lab has made contributions in the area of tumor induced immunosuppression of dendritic cells, characterization of human myeloid derived suppressor cells, and the development of novel adjuvants for cancer vaccines.
How did you decide to become a scientist?
I originally wanted to be a journalist. After my father succumbed to liver cancer at the age of 49, I was compelled to find answers.
How long have you been with VUMC?
3 yrs
What makes your lab team or research program special?
Collaboration! For example, we’ve recently started a new collaboration with Suman Das lab. Suman’s group brings state-of-the-art technology in microbiome characterization, and we will be providing saliva samples with the intent of sequencing the human microbiome of saliva that is associated with cancer. It all comes back to the human! This is one of many examples of multiple collaborations our group has with the scientific and clinical community at Vanderbilt.
What’s going on in your lab that we should get excited about?
We’re looking hard at a specific check inhibitor in cancer patients (NKG2A). It’s been found in humans and mice and shows incredible promise in head and neck cancer care.
Kim Lab
What topics do you think we will be talking about in 5 years? 10 years?
The Immunological tone in cancer. What’s the nerve that sends the frequency to cancer? What’s driving the cancer and who is the loudest voice being transmitted to the cancer cell? Is it the T cell, B, NK, or Myeloid cell? Exosomes might give us a way to measure these frequencies and determine who the cancer cell is listening to.
If you want to learn more, take a look at this article in December’s VI4 Recommended Reading – I think you’ll find it interesting.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to a new graduate student?
Learn how to write, and then go write!
When you’re in the OR, what’s coming through the speakers?
Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Rap!
