Daniel Peeper Lab
@peeperlab.bsky.social
Cancer researcher @NKI_nl and @oncodeinstitute, Cofounder of Flindr Tx; developing rational cancer & immune cell combination treatments using functional genomics
🙏 Huge thanks to everyone involved - postdocs, PhD students, bioinformaticians, technicians, internship students and collaborators.
👏 I’m incredibly proud that this long-term team effort led to a discovery that may help us better harness the immune system to fight cancer.
👏 I’m incredibly proud that this long-term team effort led to a discovery that may help us better harness the immune system to fight cancer.
November 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM
🙏 Huge thanks to everyone involved - postdocs, PhD students, bioinformaticians, technicians, internship students and collaborators.
👏 I’m incredibly proud that this long-term team effort led to a discovery that may help us better harness the immune system to fight cancer.
👏 I’m incredibly proud that this long-term team effort led to a discovery that may help us better harness the immune system to fight cancer.
🚀 What’s next?
We aim to:
• Develop a clinical-proof procedure to specifically isolate T cell clusters from tumors
• Test them in clinical trials to improve TIL therapy
• Explore how the unique features of these clusters can inspire new immunotherapy strategies.
We aim to:
• Develop a clinical-proof procedure to specifically isolate T cell clusters from tumors
• Test them in clinical trials to improve TIL therapy
• Explore how the unique features of these clusters can inspire new immunotherapy strategies.
November 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM
🚀 What’s next?
We aim to:
• Develop a clinical-proof procedure to specifically isolate T cell clusters from tumors
• Test them in clinical trials to improve TIL therapy
• Explore how the unique features of these clusters can inspire new immunotherapy strategies.
We aim to:
• Develop a clinical-proof procedure to specifically isolate T cell clusters from tumors
• Test them in clinical trials to improve TIL therapy
• Explore how the unique features of these clusters can inspire new immunotherapy strategies.
👊 Why this may help patients:
TIL therapy takes T cells from a patient’s tumor, expands them, and reinfuses them. It can help a subset of melanoma patients and is being explored for other cancers.
Our work suggests we can purify the most potent TILs by selecting T cell clusters.
TIL therapy takes T cells from a patient’s tumor, expands them, and reinfuses them. It can help a subset of melanoma patients and is being explored for other cancers.
Our work suggests we can purify the most potent TILs by selecting T cell clusters.
November 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM
👊 Why this may help patients:
TIL therapy takes T cells from a patient’s tumor, expands them, and reinfuses them. It can help a subset of melanoma patients and is being explored for other cancers.
Our work suggests we can purify the most potent TILs by selecting T cell clusters.
TIL therapy takes T cells from a patient’s tumor, expands them, and reinfuses them. It can help a subset of melanoma patients and is being explored for other cancers.
Our work suggests we can purify the most potent TILs by selecting T cell clusters.
😲 Why wasn’t this seen before?
Immune cell clusters have been observed before- but because most analyses focus on single cells, clusters were usually filtered out.
We did the opposite: we asked whether the clusters themselves might be where highly active T cells live.
They do.
Immune cell clusters have been observed before- but because most analyses focus on single cells, clusters were usually filtered out.
We did the opposite: we asked whether the clusters themselves might be where highly active T cells live.
They do.
November 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM
😲 Why wasn’t this seen before?
Immune cell clusters have been observed before- but because most analyses focus on single cells, clusters were usually filtered out.
We did the opposite: we asked whether the clusters themselves might be where highly active T cells live.
They do.
Immune cell clusters have been observed before- but because most analyses focus on single cells, clusters were usually filtered out.
We did the opposite: we asked whether the clusters themselves might be where highly active T cells live.
They do.
⚙️ What we show:
By isolating these T cell-tumor clusters from patient material, we enrich for highly tumor-reactive T cells fast and easy.
In lab models and patient-derived tumors, these T cells were up to 9× more effective at killing cancer cells.
By isolating these T cell-tumor clusters from patient material, we enrich for highly tumor-reactive T cells fast and easy.
In lab models and patient-derived tumors, these T cells were up to 9× more effective at killing cancer cells.
November 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM
⚙️ What we show:
By isolating these T cell-tumor clusters from patient material, we enrich for highly tumor-reactive T cells fast and easy.
In lab models and patient-derived tumors, these T cells were up to 9× more effective at killing cancer cells.
By isolating these T cell-tumor clusters from patient material, we enrich for highly tumor-reactive T cells fast and easy.
In lab models and patient-derived tumors, these T cells were up to 9× more effective at killing cancer cells.
🧠 This led to a key question:
👉 Could we use these clusters to directly find the best tumor-killing T cells in patient tumors?
The breakthrough: the interactions between active T cells and cancer cells are so strong that the clusters can be isolated straight from a tumor.
👉 Could we use these clusters to directly find the best tumor-killing T cells in patient tumors?
The breakthrough: the interactions between active T cells and cancer cells are so strong that the clusters can be isolated straight from a tumor.
November 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM
🧠 This led to a key question:
👉 Could we use these clusters to directly find the best tumor-killing T cells in patient tumors?
The breakthrough: the interactions between active T cells and cancer cells are so strong that the clusters can be isolated straight from a tumor.
👉 Could we use these clusters to directly find the best tumor-killing T cells in patient tumors?
The breakthrough: the interactions between active T cells and cancer cells are so strong that the clusters can be isolated straight from a tumor.
🧪 In our lab at the @nkinl.bsky.social and
@oncodeinstitute.bsky.social, we noticed something striking:
T cells that truly “see” the tumor stick to cancer cells and form tight clusters. These clustered T cells were far better at killing tumor cells than lone T cells.
@oncodeinstitute.bsky.social, we noticed something striking:
T cells that truly “see” the tumor stick to cancer cells and form tight clusters. These clustered T cells were far better at killing tumor cells than lone T cells.
November 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM
🧪 In our lab at the @nkinl.bsky.social and
@oncodeinstitute.bsky.social, we noticed something striking:
T cells that truly “see” the tumor stick to cancer cells and form tight clusters. These clustered T cells were far better at killing tumor cells than lone T cells.
@oncodeinstitute.bsky.social, we noticed something striking:
T cells that truly “see” the tumor stick to cancer cells and form tight clusters. These clustered T cells were far better at killing tumor cells than lone T cells.
🧩 The challenge:
To improve cancer immunotherapy, we need to isolate the T cells that actually kill tumor cells.
We know CD8 T cells can do this — but picking out the most powerful tumor-killing cells from patient samples has been very hard.
To improve cancer immunotherapy, we need to isolate the T cells that actually kill tumor cells.
We know CD8 T cells can do this — but picking out the most powerful tumor-killing cells from patient samples has been very hard.
November 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM
🧩 The challenge:
To improve cancer immunotherapy, we need to isolate the T cells that actually kill tumor cells.
We know CD8 T cells can do this — but picking out the most powerful tumor-killing cells from patient samples has been very hard.
To improve cancer immunotherapy, we need to isolate the T cells that actually kill tumor cells.
We know CD8 T cells can do this — but picking out the most powerful tumor-killing cells from patient samples has been very hard.