Cellular Therapy Resources for Medical Professionals
We welcome patient consults and referrals for any patient that may benefit from cellular therapy for hematologic or solid malignancies as well as non-malignant hematologic conditions.
Refer a Patient or Request a Consult with a Cellular Therapy Expert
Call the UChicago Medicine David and Etta Jonas Center for Cellular Therapy at 1-844-482-7823. Inquiries for pediatric patients should be directed to UCM Physician Connect at 1-800-824-2282.
We’re dedicated to timely care for patients traveling to UChicago Medicine from any regional, national or international location. Our care navigation team is prepared to assist with gathering medical records, scheduling appointments, coordinating travel and hotel accommodations, arranging for language interpretation services, and more.
Clinical Trials
UChicago Medicine physician-scientists are actively conducting clinical research and are expanding the number of cellular therapy trials for hematologic malignancies and solid tumors.
Search for a Clinical Trial
For assistance finding a cellular therapy clinical trial, please contact Steven Mauk, Assistant Director, Physician Relations, at 312-623-4021.
Guidelines
- Transplant Consultation Timing Guidelines (National Marrow Donor Program Recommendations)
- ASTCT Guidelines for SCT & Cellular Therapies (PDF)
- Post-Transplant Guidelines for Care in Your Office (National Marrow Donor Program Recommendations)
Educational Resources
- Arrange for an in-person or remote meeting or CME event with UChicago Medicine physicians. Contact Steven Mauk, Assistant Director, Physician Relations, at 312-623-4021.
- Visit our free VuMedi video channel to view presentations featuring UChicago Medicine specialists.
- Browse our catalog of accredited CME programs
David and Etta Jonas Center for Cellular Therapy
The Jonas Center unites a team of experts dedicated to improving cellular therapy, especially CAR T-cell therapy, an emerging form of cancer treatment.
[MUSIC PLAYING] The University of Chicago Medical Center is involved in research around amazing new cancer finding treatments called immunotherapy. This lifesaving research could have the biggest impact on cancer therapies in recent history.
Immunotherapy has become one of the greatest advancements in oncology in the past 10 years. Specifically, CAR-T cell is a form of cellular therapy where you take the patient's own cells and they are genetically modified to fight the cancer.
We have staked out a leading position or a leadership role for the institution in a number of very important areas, particularly the application of certain novel technologies to patient treatments. And cellular therapy is one of them.
This is the genesis of the David and Edda Jonas Center for Cellular Therapy at UChicago Medicine. David Jonas has been involved in health care products and services for most of his professional life.
Chemotherapy will never eradicate the last cancer cell. And the only system that can eradicate the last cancer cell is our own immune system. So that's what really got me interested in the program.
CAR-T cell therapy is unique. It uses cells taken from the patient that are modified. These supercharged cells are returned to the patient where they fight and eradicate the cancer cells. UChicago medicine was the first site in the country to be certified for CAR-T cell therapies for both adults and children.
Feeling fantastic. I've been feeling really good. People on the streets now, if they didn't know I was sick, they would have never known I had cancer for-- battled it for six years.
These T cells are taken to a laboratory. And then they're genetically modified using a virus kind of like a Trojan horse effect. It's a very benign virus that infects the cells. And then within its genetic material, it's incorporated into those cells and turns them into cancer fighting cells.
But the therapy doesn't work for all cancers. It is currently used for liquid tumors, leukemia, and related diseases. The hope is to expand usage to solid tumors like lung cancer and ovarian cancers, which are much more common.
To use basic science technology that is being developed at the University of Chicago to evolve the technology so that it would be applicable to patients and then to test how these new approaches can be used to treat not just liquid tumors but also solid tumors. And if we can accomplish even part of that, it will be part of a major transformation in cancer therapy that will be applicable to many, many patients.
Jonas learned about the University of Chicago and UChicago Medicine before making the $10 million gift.
When you look at the university with its history, they have a tremendous track record in attracting the kind of talent-- the scientific talent that you would need to put around the program.
Philanthropy is vitally important for this type of research and these types of lifesaving discoveries. Without generous donors like David Jonas, this type of research might not be possible at this level.
Well, it enables us to take risk. You know, so if you look at this example, it's a very high risk venture. The yield is obviously enormous. I mean you can imagine if you can develop a novel cellular-based therapy for a significant number of solid tumors in this country or across the world, it's going to be transformative.
It's transformative research that makes a huge impact. The Jonas Center will recruit leading experts in T cell biology and cell engineering. It will expand clinical trials, allow for acquisition of new technology for the laboratory, and, most importantly, it will give hope to people who previously had done.
This is the most exciting time in my entire career, because we are seeing the benefits of very good basic science taking the translational science. And I actually think in the next 10 years, there'll be a further revolution in how we bring all components together to fight cancer. And I think it's going to be more efficacious. It's going to be less toxic. And I think that there is going to be hope for people again who never had hope before.
Immunotherapy has become one of the greatest advancements in oncology in the past 10 years. Specifically, CAR-T cell is a form of cellular therapy where you take the patient's own cells and they are genetically modified to fight the cancer.
We have staked out a leading position or a leadership role for the institution in a number of very important areas, particularly the application of certain novel technologies to patient treatments. And cellular therapy is one of them.
This is the genesis of the David and Edda Jonas Center for Cellular Therapy at UChicago Medicine. David Jonas has been involved in health care products and services for most of his professional life.
Chemotherapy will never eradicate the last cancer cell. And the only system that can eradicate the last cancer cell is our own immune system. So that's what really got me interested in the program.
CAR-T cell therapy is unique. It uses cells taken from the patient that are modified. These supercharged cells are returned to the patient where they fight and eradicate the cancer cells. UChicago medicine was the first site in the country to be certified for CAR-T cell therapies for both adults and children.
Feeling fantastic. I've been feeling really good. People on the streets now, if they didn't know I was sick, they would have never known I had cancer for-- battled it for six years.
These T cells are taken to a laboratory. And then they're genetically modified using a virus kind of like a Trojan horse effect. It's a very benign virus that infects the cells. And then within its genetic material, it's incorporated into those cells and turns them into cancer fighting cells.
But the therapy doesn't work for all cancers. It is currently used for liquid tumors, leukemia, and related diseases. The hope is to expand usage to solid tumors like lung cancer and ovarian cancers, which are much more common.
To use basic science technology that is being developed at the University of Chicago to evolve the technology so that it would be applicable to patients and then to test how these new approaches can be used to treat not just liquid tumors but also solid tumors. And if we can accomplish even part of that, it will be part of a major transformation in cancer therapy that will be applicable to many, many patients.
Jonas learned about the University of Chicago and UChicago Medicine before making the $10 million gift.
When you look at the university with its history, they have a tremendous track record in attracting the kind of talent-- the scientific talent that you would need to put around the program.
Philanthropy is vitally important for this type of research and these types of lifesaving discoveries. Without generous donors like David Jonas, this type of research might not be possible at this level.
Well, it enables us to take risk. You know, so if you look at this example, it's a very high risk venture. The yield is obviously enormous. I mean you can imagine if you can develop a novel cellular-based therapy for a significant number of solid tumors in this country or across the world, it's going to be transformative.
It's transformative research that makes a huge impact. The Jonas Center will recruit leading experts in T cell biology and cell engineering. It will expand clinical trials, allow for acquisition of new technology for the laboratory, and, most importantly, it will give hope to people who previously had done.
This is the most exciting time in my entire career, because we are seeing the benefits of very good basic science taking the translational science. And I actually think in the next 10 years, there'll be a further revolution in how we bring all components together to fight cancer. And I think it's going to be more efficacious. It's going to be less toxic. And I think that there is going to be hope for people again who never had hope before.