Prof. Labros Meimetis
Title: PSMA-Targeted In Situ Vaccination for the Treatment of Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
Bio:
Labros Meimetis is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology at the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his BSc from Simon Fraser University (2006, Vancouver, Canada) performing undergraduate research with Prof. Robert Britton (Chemistry). In 2012, Dr. Meimetis completed his PhD in Chemistry at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada under the mentorship of Prof. Raymond Andersen. His research was focused on synthesizing bioactive marine natural products and their pharmacophore analogues. From 2012-2016, he was a post-doctoral researcher at Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital developing novel fluorogenic imaging probes based on the tetrazine/TCO click chemistry platform in Prof. Ralph Weissleders group. From 2016-2019, Dr. Meimetis was a Senior Scientist developing novel payloads and linker chemistry in preclinical programs for use as antibody-drug conjugates targeting cancer (Sutro Biopharma, South San Francisco, CA). He then led a startup company (Chronus Pharmaceuticals, Stony Brook, NY), advancing Positron Emission Tomography imaging agents for infectious diseases. In 2020, Dr. Meimetis joined the Department of Radiology at the Renaissance School of Medicine (Stony Brook, NY) where he began his academic career developing tumor targeted in situ vaccination strategies for cancer. In 2023, he became an official badger and began his faculty position at the SMPH, UW-Madison and continues his pursuit of developing more efficacious cancer treatments to help patients.
Abstract:
My research goal is to develop tumor targeting in situ vaccination therapies that can better treat advanced cancers vs standard of care treatments. We accomplish this by addressing tumor escape mechanisms common in metastatic cancers, namely tumor heterogeneity and immunosuppression. Experience with different cancer therapeutic strategies such as small molecules, radiopharmaceuticals and antibody drug conjugates provide a deep pool of expertise to build these programs in my lab. In this talk I will introduce the proof-of-concept to lead-optimized preclinical development of a novel tumor targeted drug paradigm, we describe as a RadioIMmunoStimulant (RIMS) that is designed for metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients. The 5-yr survival rate for patients with mCRPC is ~15%. Furthermore, >80% of mCRPC states arise from the non-metastatic CRPC state which itself has poor outcomes of 50% patient mortality, 1-3 years after diagnosis. There is no cure for mCRPC. Additionally, I will briefly discuss 2 other programs where we are developing tumor targeted dual conjugate immunostimulatory therapies for HER2+ metastatic breast and salivary duct carcinoma.