Gabriel Griffin

The Griffin Lab applies emerging functional genomic, sequencing, and immunologic tools to define fundamental mechanisms of immune regulation in tumors. We then seek to translate these insights into better immunotherapies for patients with cancer. A major interest of our lab is understanding the regulation and immunotherapeutic potential of endogenous retroviruses and other repetitive elements in cancer. Relics of ancient viral transposition events, these loci have emerged as touchpoints for multiple immune processes in cancer and encode novel categories of tumor-specific antigens. We also use genome editing and functional screens to characterize chromatin regulatory proteins with central roles in repeat silencing and immune escape in cancer, and pursue collaborations to develop novel therapies against these factors.