Mentor Name: John Maris

CHOP has two open phase 1 clinical trials of new chimeric antigen receptor"(CAR) T cells for children with relapsed neuroblastoma. A CAR is a synthetic protein engineered into a patients own immune cells that directs them to cancer by homing to a specific target. One clinical trials has a CAR directed to a protein call GPC2, and the other to PHOX2B. A major question is whether or not the density of these proteins on the surface of neuroblastoma cells is associated with whether CAR T cells are effective. The Maris lab has collected and will continue to collect biopsy samples for all patients referred for the trials and are collecting data on GPC2 and PHOX2B density in collaboration with colleagues in pathology. Ori will create a database for these data, connecting the individual tumor biopsy data to clinical data in the electronic medical record and clinical trial data in collaboration with our lead advanced practice nurse and two clinical research associates. This database will be completed by the end of the summer and used by the research team moving forward. As Ori is an aspiring physician-scientist focused on childhood cancer, he will also participate in Maris and Mosse lab meetings through the summer and attend the weekly neuroblastoma developmental therapeutics clinic run by Maris and Mosse and shadow consult and clinical trial visits.