© DUSTIN FENSTERMACHERGrowing up outside of Buffalo, New York, Gregory Sonnenberg liked to catch tadpoles and watch them develop in glass jars. “It wasn’t always successful,” he admits. “There was a lot of trial and error.” But that early interest in experimental biology metamorphosed into something more serious, and in 2003 Sonnenberg started college at the State University of New York at Buffalo to study biomedical science.
Interested in medicine, Sonnenberg volunteered at a local hospital, but he was also accepted into the lab of microbiologist Philip LoVerde, where, between classes, he studied host-parasite interactions. By the end of his first year, the two parallel experiences made Sonnenberg realize that his talents were better utilized in biomedical research than in the clinic.
METHODS: Later in his undergraduate career, Sonnenberg joined the lab of cancer immunologist Richard Bankert, who encouraged him to pursue independent projects. “That’s when I really fell in love with immunology,” Sonnenberg says. “I liked that I could see the research directly leading to the clinic.”
Engrafting pieces of human lung and ovarian tumors into mice, Sonnenberg showed that tumor-associated lymphocytes remained functional and responsive to cytokines.1 The resulting model ...
