Leonard Seymour PhD

Len Seymour is a Professor of Gene Therapies and Director of the Clinical Pharmacology section within the Department of Oncology. Professor Seymour is committed to translational research in cancer and brings expertise in virology, cancer biology, and drug delivery. His main interest is to combine genetic and chemical engineering in the development of biologics for the treatment of cancer, including oncolytic viral vaccines. His team is now developing ‘armed’ variants for immunotherapy or as cancer vaccines. The viruses are genetically engineered to express and secrete biologics selectively from tumors in vivo, allowing us to modulate the intra-tumor immune environment. Currently, we are expressing TNF, gamma interferon, anti-CTLA4, anti-TGFbeta, and anti-IL10 in preclinical systems, developing mechanistic hypotheses over how best to overcome peripheral tolerance and stimulate anticancer responses.