Research Summary

In the Roybal Lab we harness the tools of synthetic and chemical biology to enhance the therapeutic potential of engineered immune cells. We take a comprehensive approach to cellular engineering by developing new synthetic receptors, signal transduction cascades, and cellular response programs to enhance the safety and effectiveness of adoptive cell therapies. We also study the logic of natural cellular signaling systems, and the underlying principles of cellular communication and collective cell behavior during an immune response.

Research Funding

  • September 30, 2018 - June 30, 2023 - Engineering the Next-generation of Custom Immune Cell Therapies, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: DP2CA239143
  • September 30, 2018 - June 30, 2023 - Engineering the Next-generation of Custom Immune Cell Therapies, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: DP2CA239143
  • September 30, 2018 - June 30, 2023 - Engineering the Next-generation of Custom Immune Cell Therapies, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: DP2CA239143
  • September 30, 2018 - June 30, 2023 - Engineering the Next-generation of Custom Immune Cell Therapies, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: DP2CA239143

Education

Austin College, B.A., 05/2005, Biology
UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Ph.D., 01/2013, Molecular Immunology

Honors & Awards

  • 2007
    Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award, National Institutes of Health
  • 2011
    Eliot Golding’s Award for thesis in Immunology, UT Southwestern Medical Center
  • 2012
    Dean’s Award for Academic and Research Excellence, UT Southwestern Medical Center
  • 2016
    Keynote Address at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center Retreat
  • 2017
    Named to first cohort of Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigators

Selected Publications

  1. Huang X, Williams JZ, Chang R, Li Z, Burnett CE, Hernandez-Lopez R, Setiady I, Gai E, Patterson DM, Yu W, Roybal KT, Lim WA, Desai TA DNA scaffolds enable efficient and tunable functionalization of biomaterials for immune cell modulation.  View on PubMed
  2. Williams JZ, Allen GM, Shah D, Sterin IS, Kim KH, Garcia VP, Shavey GE, Yu W, Puig-Saus C, Tsoi J, Ribas A, Roybal KT, Lim WA Precise T cell recognition programs designed by transcriptionally linking multiple receptors.  View on PubMed
  3. Ramkumar P, Abarientos AB, Tian R, Seyler M, Leong JT, Chen M, Choudhry P, Hechler T, Shah N, Wong SW, Martin TG, Wolf JL, Roybal KT, Pahl A, Taunton J, Wiita AP, Kampmann M CRISPR-based screens uncover determinants of immunotherapy response in multiple myeloma.  View on PubMed
  4. Landgraf KE, Williams SR, Steiger D, Gebhart D, Lok S, Martin DW, Roybal KT, Kim KC convertibleCARs: A chimeric antigen receptor system for flexible control of activity and antigen targeting.  View on PubMed
  5. Roth TL, Li PJ, Blaeschke F, Nies JF, Apathy R, Mowery C, Yu R, Nguyen MLT, Lee Y, Truong A, Hiatt J, Wu D, Nguyen DN, Goodman D, Bluestone JA, Ye CJ, Roybal K, Shifrut E, Marson A Pooled Knockin Targeting for Genome Engineering of Cellular Immunotherapies.  View on PubMed
  6. Payal Watchmaker, Joseph Choe, Diego Carrera, Ryan Gilbert, Wei Yu, Kira Downey, Kole Roybal, Wendell Lim, Hideho Okada IMMU-21. SEQUENTIAL TWO-RECEPTOR PRIMING CAR SYSTEM TO OVERCOME HETEROGENEOUS ANTIGEN EXPRESSION.  View on PubMed
  7. Hyrenius-Wittsten A, Roybal KT Paving New Roads for CARs.  View on PubMed
  8. Azimi CS, Tang Q, Roybal KT, Bluestone JA NextGen cell-based immunotherapies in cancer and other immune disorders.  View on PubMed
  9. Pai CS, Huang JT, Lu X, Simons DM, Park C, Chang A, Tamaki W, Liu E, Roybal KT, Seagal J, Chen M, Hagihara K, Wei XX, DuPage M, Kwek SS, Oh DY, Daud A, Tsai KK, Wu C, Zhang L, Fasso M, Sachidanandam R, Jayaprakash A, Lin I, Casbon AJ, Kinsbury GA, Fong L Clonal Deletion of Tumor-Specific T Cells by Interferon-? Confers Therapeutic Resistance to Combination Immune Checkpoint Blockade.  View on PubMed
  10. Shalini T. Low-Nam, Jenny JY Lin, Darren B. McAffee, Steven A. Alvarez, Scott D. Hansen, Kole T. Roybal, Jay T. Groves Beyond the TCR, Antigen Discrimination in T Cells Continues in the LAT:GRB2:SOS Protein Condensate.  View on PubMed
  11. Poornima Ramkumar, Jaime Leong, Meghan Seyler, Stratton J Georgoulis, Axel Hyrenius Wittsten, Priya Choudhry, Kole Roybal, Arun P Wiita, Martin Kampmann Identifying Factors in Multiple Myeloma Controlling Response to B-Cell Maturation Antigen (BCMA)-Targeted Immunotherapy Using CRISPR-Based Functional Genomics.  View on PubMed
  12. Payal Watchmaker, Joseph Choe, Diego Carrera, Kira Downey, Maryam Shahin, Kole Roybal, Wendell Lim, Hideho Okada IMMU-57. SEQUENTIAL TWO-RECEPTOR PRIMING CAR SYSTEM TO OVERCOME HETEROGENEOUS ANTIGEN EXPRESSION.  View on PubMed
  13. Roybal KT Refining cell therapy.  View on PubMed
  14. Roybal KT, Lim WA Synthetic Immunology: Hacking Immune Cells to Expand Their Therapeutic Capabilities.  View on PubMed
  15. Rupp LJ, Schumann K, Roybal KT, Gate RE, Ye CJ, Lim WA, Marson A CRISPR/Cas9-mediated PD-1 disruption enhances anti-tumor efficacy of human chimeric antigen receptor T cells.  View on PubMed
  16. Roybal KT, Williams JZ, Morsut L, Rupp LJ, Kolinko I, Choe JH, Walker WJ, McNally KA, Lim WA Engineering T Cells with Customized Therapeutic Response Programs Using Synthetic Notch Receptors.  View on PubMed
  17. Roybal KT, Buck TE, Ruan X, Cho BH, Clark DJ, Ambler R, Tunbridge HM, Zhang J, Verkade P, Wülfing C, Murphy RF Computational spatiotemporal analysis identifies WAVE2 and cofilin as joint regulators of costimulation-mediated T cell actin dynamics.  View on PubMed
  18. Morsut L, Roybal KT, Xiong X, Gordley RM, Coyle SM, Thomson M, Lim WA Engineering Customized Cell Sensing and Response Behaviors Using Synthetic Notch Receptors.  View on PubMed
  19. Roybal KT, Rupp LJ, Morsut L, Walker WJ, McNally KA, Park JS, Lim WA Precision Tumor Recognition by T Cells With Combinatorial Antigen-Sensing Circuits.  View on PubMed
  20. C. Wülfing, K.T. Roybal Cellular Structures Controlling T Cell Signaling in Time and Space.  View on PubMed

Go to UCSF Profiles, powered by CTSI