Victor
Victor
Boston Latin School
Boston, MA
Mentors:
Sachin V. Kammula & Athaliah Fubara
Cancer Program
Victor spent his summer investigating how leukemia cells use their surface chemistry to avoid immune attack. Working in the TIDE/Cancer Program with his partner Sarah, he studied CD43, a large sugar-covered protein on acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells that has been implicated in suppressing macrophage and T-cell activity.
The real-world problem is central to cancer immunotherapy: if leukemia cells create a barrier that prevents immune cells from making effective contact, understanding that mechanism could reveal a new therapeutic vulnerability. Victor and Sarah focused on directly visualizing interactions between T cells and AML cells with intact CD43 versus CRISPR-engineered CD43 knockout cells.
Victor helped optimize T cell-to-AML co-culture conditions, fluorescently label cell populations, use flow cytometry to quantify cell-cell doublets, and pilot imaging flow cytometry and live imaging. He learned how assay development turns a mechanistic hypothesis into something researchers can see and measure-and how noisy or imperfect data can still guide the design of the next experiment.
The optimization work supported a 1:2 T cell-to-AML ratio as a strong condition for subsequent experiments and showed signs of increased T cell-AML interactions when CD43 was absent. The project also reinforced prior findings that the glycosylated CD43 surface barrier contributes to immune evasion. Victor's contribution helps lay the groundwork for future experiments examining synaptic proteins, cytoskeletal organization, and cytotoxic signal delivery to determine how CD43 disrupts effective immune-cell contact.
Victor’s reflection captured both the curiosity and community that defined the project for him. He described BSSP as a “flowerbed” where he could nurture the curiosity at the root of his love for scientific discovery while “intellectually blooming” alongside talented colleagues. Most importantly, the summer showed him how collaborative and welcoming science can - and, in his words, “ought to be.”
