My name is Joseph Skeate.
I am a highly active individual with a vast array of experiences and am currently pursuing my PhD in biomedical science at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. I specialize in cancer immunotherapy of tumor associated antigen cancers, immunology, and virology of the human papillomavirus (HPV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and the herpes simplex virus (HSV).
Current work – Cancer Immunotherapy
As of right now the focus of my work is finding a way to work with the immune system, which is specialized to each individual person, to directly target tumor associated antigen cancers. Historically, immunotherapy for cancer has largely fallen short of expectations, however recent advances in understanding how cancer is able to communicate and shut down immune responses through normal cellular cross-talk have been put in the spotlight. Additionally, we now more about how the immune system can be stimulated (driven forward) and primed to recognize specific targets. Because of these breakthroughs it is becoming obvious that the pathway to successful treatment will not be through single-pronged approaches, but will require the deployment of multiple strategies that strategically target tumors while preventing immune suppression. Through the work I am currently pursuing and with the collaboration of many brilliant minds in the field of cancer immunotherapy, it is my belief that we can save thousands of lives and make many types of cancer diseases of the past.
Joseph Skeate, MS 