On March 14, we were delighted to host Associate Professor Li Tang from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Li Tang gave an inspiring lecture to the faculty and students of Shenzhen University Medical School, titled "Revitalizing exhausted T Cells with IL-10". The lecture constituted the 101^st lecture of the Shenzhen Medical Forum, and was chaired by Professor Huayan Yang of the Shenzhen School of Biomedical Engineering.

Professor Huayan Yang presented Associate Professor Li Tang with a Certificate of Honor on behalf of the Shenzhen Medical School

Our immune system responds to various diseases in a multidimensional manner involving substantial biological, chemical, and physical exchange. Manipulating these disease—immune interactions via immunotherapies is one method to effectively target complex diseases such as cancer. In his talk, Li Tang shared his recent discovery of IL-10 as a metabolic reprogramming agent that reinvigorates terminally exhausted CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. This strategy has been extended to develop metabolically armored CAR-T cells with IL-10 secretion to counter exhaustion-associated dysfunction in the tumor microenvironment, in order to enhance anticancer immunity. This new form of IL-10-secreting CAR-T, shows promise in several on-going investigator-initiated clinical trials (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT05715606, NCT05747157, NCT06120166) for treating refractory/relapsed CD19+ B cell leukemia and lymphoma.

Professor Tang outlined the various cutting-edge research approaches used and achievements he has made during his career to date. The audience was clearly inspired by his talk, asking numerous insightful questions. After the presentation, he took the time to engage in many one-on-one academic exchanges, including with Professors Huang Peng, Wang Lei, Xing Shaojun, Zhang Suping, Wang Xiaomei, Li Zida, Zhang Yang, and others from the Medical Department. After the lecture, Professor Huayan Yang issued Professor Li Tang with a Certificate of Honor on behalf of the Shenzhen Medical School.

Dr. Li Tang is currently serving as an Associate Professor, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Li Tang received his B.S. in Chemistry from Peking University, China, in 2007, and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, in 2012. He then secured a CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Professor Darrell Irvine at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which he held from 2013 to 2016. In 2016, he joined the faculty of Institute of Bioengineering, and Institute of Materials Science & Engineering, at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, as a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, and in 2022, was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. His research focuses on developing multidimensional immune-engineering approaches for enhanced cancer immunotherapies. He is the recipient of a Cancer Research Institute CLIP Award (2021), the Anna Fuller Award (2021 and 2022), and was named in the MIT Technology Review’s "Top 35 Innovators under Age 35" list for the China region in 2020. He was also named a Materials Horizons Emerging Investigator in 2020, a Biomaterials Science Emerging Investigator in 2019, and was the recipient of European Research Council (ERC) starting grant in 2018 as well as a Nano Research Young Innovator Award (NR 45 under 45) in the same year.