Profile

• Organization

  University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

  
  
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• Employment Status

  Academic Hospital - Faculty

  
  
• Website

  https://faculty.mdanderson.org/profiles/Michael_Curran.html

  
  
• Telephone

  713-563-3286

  
  
• Reason

  Keeping current in subject matter

  
  
• Interests

  1. Immunotherapy
  2. metabolism
  3. microenvironment
  4. Tumor immunology and cancer vaccines

  
  
• Address

  address1:	1515 Holcombe Blvd.
  address2:	Unit 901
  city:	Houston
  postal:	77030
  region:	TX
  country:	US

  
  
• Biography

  Dr. Curran joined The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2012 as assistant professor of Immunology. In 2014, he was named scientific director of the Oncology Research for Biologics and Immunotherapy Translation (ORBIT) moonshot platform, which coordinates development and production of clinical immunotherapeutic antibodies based on novel discoveries originating at MD Anderson.

  
  
  

  Dr. Curran completed undergraduate degrees in biology, foreign affairs and computer science at the University of Virginia, while receiving accolades for the best undergraduate laboratory research project. He went on to receive a Ph.D. in immunology from Stanford University, where he was awarded the McDevitt prize for the best graduate thesis in his year. Dr. Curran was the first recipient of the prestigious American Cancer Society Levy Fellowship to fund his postdoctoral studies in the lab of James P. Allison, Ph.D.

  
  
  

  While pursuing his postdoctoral studies in Dr. Allison's lab, Dr. Curran published several influential papers describing how T-cell co-stimulatory pathways could be modulated in tandem to mediate immunologic rejection of melanomas in mice. He detailed how combination blockade of the T-cell co-inhibitory receptors CTLA-4 and PD-1 promoted the rejection of a majority of murine melanomas. This work supported the launch of a series of clinical trials demonstrating remarkable efficacy against metastatic melanoma and prompting the Food and Drug Administration to make this the first approved immunotherapy antibody combination. In addition, his subsequent studies of 4-1BB agonist antibodies earned him the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer’s prestigious Presidential Award.

  
  
  

  Despite the success of immunotherapy in melanoma, many immunologically “cold” tumors, such as prostate and pancreatic cancer, fail to respond to checkpoint blockade.  Dr. Curran’s laboratory focuses on discovering mechanisms by which these immune-resistant cancers evade the host T cell response and resist checkpoint antibody therapy.  Companion translational studies investigate immunologic and metabolic interventions designed to reverse microenvironmental immune suppression and re-sensitize these cancers to host immunity.