Q&A with Azlann Arnett: Reprogramming CAR T Cells to Overcome Barriers in Treating Solid Tumor Cancers
April 1, 2025PhRMA Foundation awardee Azlann Arnett, a PhD student at the Baylor College of Medicine, is working to make CAR T cell therapy effective for solid cancer tumors.
It’s not hard for Azlann Arnett to stay motivated through the ups and downs of scientific research when he works just a short walk away from the patients he is trying to help.
Arnett, a PhD student at the Baylor College of Medicine, often visits cancer patients undergoing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy in the building next door to his lab, where he is working to make this treatment effective for solid cancer tumors. CAR T cell therapy works by allowing immune cells called T cells to recognize and kill cancerous cells. Unfortunately, solid tumor cancers cause the CAR T cells to eventually become dysfunctional and no longer able to effectively kill tumor cells.
Arnett received a 2025 PhRMA Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship in Drug Discovery for his efforts to find genes that improve the function of T cells and determine how they do so. He aims to activate these genes to reprogram CAR T cells to effectively eliminate patients’ solid tumors.
Watch this video to learn more about Arnett and his research.
