A Research-Integrated Curriculum on CAR-T Cell Therapy
- 1North Carolina State University
Abstract
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are patient-derived T cells engineered to recognize specific antigens on malignant cells, representing a major breakthrough in personalized cancer immunotherapy. While CAR-T cell therapy is an established treatment for relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies, understanding the rationale and methodology behind its development is essential for training the next generation of oncology researchers. Here, we describe a novel, hands-on small-enrollment laboratory course designed to teach upper-level undergraduate and graduate students about immunotherapies and CAR-T cell technology by paralleling a typical bench-scale development process. Students isolated T cells from porcine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) via immunomagnetic selection, followed by flow cytometry to assess purity, viability, and yield. Students then used pre-engineered B7H3 CAR-T cells to perform co-culture assays with U87 glioblastoma cells to evaluate tumor cell killing efficacy. Cytotoxicity was qualitatively evaluated using immunofluorescence microscopy, while IFN-gamma release was quantified using Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Student performance was evaluated through electronic laboratory notebooks, discussion questions, a capstone project, and student-generated data. Our results demonstrate students high academic performance across assignments and the successful execution of complex laboratory workflows. Collectively, these findings establish the feasibility and implementation of a research-integrated curriculum providing foundational exposure to immuno-oncology research tools and CAR-T cell production techniques.
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BibTeX
@misc{khan2026researchintegrated,
title = {{A Research-Integrated Curriculum on CAR-T Cell Therapy}},
author = {Y. H. Khan and L. Rice and M. C. Srougi},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.23.753877},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753877v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A Research-Integrated Curriculum on CAR-T Cell Therapy
AU - Y. H. Khan
AU - L. Rice
AU - M. C. Srougi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.23.753877
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753877v1
AB - Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are patient-derived T cells engineered to recognize specific antigens on malignant cells, representing a major breakthrough in personalized cancer immunotherapy. While CAR-T cell therapy is an established treatment for relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies, understanding the rationale and methodology behind its development is essential for training the next generation of oncology researchers. Here, we describe a novel, hands-on small-enrollment laboratory course designed to teach upper-level undergraduate and graduate students about immunotherapies and CAR-T cell technology by paralleling a typical bench-scale development process. Students isolated T cells from porcine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) via immunomagnetic selection, followed by flow cytometry to assess purity, viability, and yield. Students then used pre-engineered B7H3 CAR-T cells to perform co-culture assays with U87 glioblastoma cells to evaluate tumor cell killing efficacy. Cytotoxicity was qualitatively evaluated using immunofluorescence microscopy, while IFN-gamma release was quantified using Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Student performance was evaluated through electronic laboratory notebooks, discussion questions, a capstone project, and student-generated data. Our results demonstrate students high academic performance across assignments and the successful execution of complex laboratory workflows. Collectively, these findings establish the feasibility and implementation of a research-integrated curriculum providing foundational exposure to immuno-oncology research tools and CAR-T cell production techniques.
ER -