Dr Joachim Hanna awarded Postgraduate Student Thesis Prize

Joachim Hanna has won this year’s Postgraduate Student Thesis Prize. The Prize is awarded each year to an exceptional Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute postgraduate student that has completed an outstanding piece of work during their studies.

Dr Joachim Hanna completed his PhD in the de la Roche Group, supervised by Dr Maike de la Roche. During his studies, he investigated T cells, a type of immune cell, and the effect of the Hedgehog signalling pathway on their function. Understanding the mechanisms that control these cells and their functions could lead to the discovery of new cancer drug targets.

CD8+ and CD4+ T cells are components of the immune system. CD8+ T cells recognise and kill cancer cells, as well as cells infected by viruses. CD4+ T cells orchestrate tailored immune programmes in response to different threats such as an infection, parasite, or a cancer cell. They do this by first determining the exact nature of the encountered challenge, before developing into one of many specialised subsets of cells that can trigger different responses.

During his PhD, Dr Hanna uncovered the mechanism CD8+ T cells use to activate the Hedgehog signalling pathway, controlling tumour cell killing. He discovered that a protein known for controlling calcium entry into a cell was vital for CD8+ T cells’ ability to kill cancer cells. The calcium channel was able to regulate the CD8+ T cells’ ability to kill via a component of the Hedgehog signalling pathway called Gli1.

Joachim’s work also characterised the role of Hedgehog signalling in CD4+ T cell function. He found that the Hedgehog signalling pathway selectively controls the ability of CD4+ T cells to develop into the Th17 subset, which plays an important in driving tumour growth and are a promising new target for cancer immunotherapies.

Developing a complete understanding of signalling in CD8+ and CD4+ T cells is vital to unravel the effects of existing cancer drugs targeting the Hedgehog signalling pathway. It may even pave the way for new drug targets and therapies against cancer.

Since completing his PhD, Joachim has returned to the final year of his medical degree at the University of Cambridge and is due to qualify as a doctor in June.