A New Route to Cancer Immunotherapy
Majeti Lab Collaborates With USC Stem Cell-led Team To Create a Renewable Cell Source For Cancer Immunotherapy
Engineered immune cells (red) attacking breast cancer cells (blue). The red cells are genetically engineered macrophages designed to selectively recognize, engulf and destroy breast cancer cells (blue), demonstrating a promising new cell-based immunotherapy approach. Image courtesy of Shi Yue/Qi-Long Ying Lab/USC Stem Cell.
By Cassie Myers
June 19, 2026
A recent Cell publication highlights research (led by a USC team in collaboration with the lab of Institute director Ravi Majeti) which developed a new way to expand and engineer a type of immune cell (known as granulocyte-monocyte progenitors or GMPs) that shows great promise for future immunotherapies to fight cancer and other diseases.
One of the unique implications of this work was the GMPs’ ability to self-renew under the right conditions in a lab setting. If scientists are able to harness this power, there are many potential applications for further therapies.
The USC team led this effort, and their collaborators in Majeti’s lab were also able to independently reproduce and maintain these genetically-engineered GMPs – further validation of the potential for this crucial work.
Majeti, director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University, notes, “This method for the expansion and engineering of GMPs opens the door to numerous translational applications, much like T cell expansion and engineering. We have already demonstrated engineering of these cells to drive multiple potent functions, and there is a lot more to be explored.”
Read more about this research at the USC site.
Disclosures
Ying, Yue, Jing, Guo, Majeti, Zhang, Nguyen and Tang are co-inventors on patents related to this study, filed by USC and licensed to Myelogene Inc. Ying, Yue, Zhang and Majeti are co-founders of Myelogene Inc. Majeti is on the Advisory Boards of Kodikaz Therapeutic Solutions, Pheast Therapeutics, Prelude Therapeutics, Mubadala Capital, Aculeus Therapeutics, Sequentify, BMS and Bectas Therapeutics. Majeti is also a co-founder and equity holder of Pheast Therapeutics.