Matthias Stephan MD, PhD

Dr. Matthias Stephan is an expert in immunobioengineering, a discipline that marries innovative materials engineering with strategies for improving immune-based therapies. He and his team are developing new approaches involving “smart” synthetic materials to boost the body’s natural ability to fight cancer. He developed a biodegradable sponge-like scaffold that can be loaded with cancer-fighting immune cells and immune-boosting drugs, then surgically implanted to help prevent disease recurrence or treat a tumor that cannot be safely removed.

With Fred Hutch colleagues, Dr. Stephan is now developing and testing scaffolds to treat breast, ovarian, pancreatic, and brain cancers. He is also developing nanoparticles to improve the curative power of an immunotherapy called T-cell therapy. For example, he is crafting nanoparticles to deliver molecules that would prime tumors for the therapy by shutting down their ability to evade or block the incoming T-cells.