Dr. Porter is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and holds the Paul Amos Chair for Pediatric Oncology Research. He is a pediatric hematologist-oncologist and directs a lab in which they study molecular and cellular mechanisms of leukemogenesis, with the goal of developing novel therapeutic strategies. Most recently, they have been studying how leukemia cells influence the microenvironment to promote immune evasion. For example, they found that IL-12 overcomes calcineurin-dependent immune evasion by leukemia cells. Collaboratively, they designed BiTEokines to deliver IL-12 to the immune synapse of T cells and leukemia cells, supported by a DOD award (CA180783). They have also found that B cell malignancies express high levels of Siglec15, a newly identified immune checkpoint, and that inhibition of Siglec15 promotes immune clearance of malignant B cells in vivo. Thus, they are uniquely positioned to further develop Siglec15 as a therapeutic target for leukemia and lymphoma.