As a Washington Post article highlighted, some doctors are now using immunotherapy—stimulating the body’s own immune response to tackle disease in targeted ways—to treat cancer patients who are not responding to traditional chemotherapies, and increasingly in place of chemotherapies or in combination with them. The Food and Drug Administration recently received unanimous recommendation from an advisory committee that a new class of immunotherapy, a “living drug,” be approved for use in children and young adults with leukemia. “The treatment takes cells from a patient’s body, modifies the genes, and then infuses those modified cells back into the person who has cancer,” explains NPR.

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation awarded UMBC’s Greg Szeto, assistant professor of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering, a $75,000 research fellow grant to continue his work on immunotherapy. Specifically, Szeto is developing experimental tests and computational models that could help physicians more accurately predict how individual patients with multiple myeloma will respond to a similar type of immunotherapy. Szeto’s preliminary work with collaborator Ivan Borrello, associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, correctly predicted clinical outcome in more than 80% of multiple myeloma patients from a prior immunotherapy clinical trial using “living drugs.”

“A major hurdle for the field is determining who will benefit from which immunotherapies, and making that determination as early as possible,” explains Szeto. “Though a long way off, the rewards of pursuing such research are key insights for better understanding how existing and emerging therapies work, enhancing the connections between STEM disciplines, and in the long run increasing patient quality of life and the ability of doctors and patients to make informed care decisions.”

In previous research, Szeto found that combining multiple immunotherapy agents can improve responses in mice treated for melanoma, and computational models could help predict and dissect these responses. A paper he coauthored with collaborators including Michael Zhang Ph.D. ’23, chemical engineering, who worked with Szeto as a research tech at MIT, appeared in Nature Medicine last year and indicated that combinations of immunotherapy agents can enable immune cells to more effectively infiltrate and reduce the size of the tumor. This size reduction was predicted by fusing experimental tests with computational models. Currently, Szeto is working to define when and how to test different samples to get the best predictive models.

Because treatments are tailored to individual patients based on a broad range of factors, understanding and assessing their function can be incredibly complex, and it can be challenging to replicate successful treatments across patients. Szeto hopes to help researchers develop more predictable treatment regimens that can use knowledge about individual patients, but with a firmer sense of when particular schedules of medication and dosage levels should be used, and what impact they are likely to have.

“There really hasn’t been any approval for this ‘living drug’ approach before, so what recently happened is a major milestone,” he says, adding that “it paves the way for approval of other drugs within this class, similar to those we are studying with Dr. Borrello.”

Daniel Ocasio
B.S., Chemical Engineering
Summa Cum Laude, Certificate: Honors College
Hometown: Severn, Maryland
Plans: Ph.D., UC Berkeley

UMBC fosters a diverse community where everyone has a chance to thrive in their own unique way. As a Meyerhoff Scholar, MARC U*STAR Scholar, HHMI Scholar, and Honors College member, I have built a fortified support system that is rare to find.

Daniel Ocasio, valedictorian for UMBC’s Class of 2017, is a first generation college student who hit the ground running at UMBC, as an inspiring leader in research, academic, and student professional organizations.

Ocasio is a Meyerhoff Scholar, MARC U*STAR Scholar, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholar, and member of the Honors College. In 2016, he was one of three UMBC students to receive the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. He has also received the National Science Foundation’s highly competitive Graduate Research Fellowship and a GEM Fellowship, which provides opportunities for highly qualified students from underrepresented communities in applied sciences and engineering.

Much of Ocasio’s research has focused on water quality and water treatment. He credits working in the lab of Lee Blaney, assistant professor of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering, with helping to push him beyond his expectations for the undergraduate experience, and to actively pursue a career as a researcher.

Ocasio founded the UMBC chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), and received a notable recognition for presenting his research at a national SHPE conference. He has also presented award-winning research at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students and UMBC’s own College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences Symposium. Ocasio has twice served as vice president of the Tau Beta Pi engineering honors society, and has received a national Tau Beta Pi scholarship.

Outside of the classroom and lab, Ocasio cofounded a mentoring program for middle school students in Baltimore City: Achievement and Inspiration through Mentorship (AIM). The program prepares college students to serve as effective, committed mentors through a semester-long training, and facilitates their work with middle school students.

Ocasio will attend the University of California, Berkeley in the fall, where he will pursue his Ph.D. in environmental engineering. His research will focus on developing improved water treatment techniques and technologies.

Andreas Seas
B.S., Chemical Engineering
Summa Cum Laude, Certificate: Honors College
Hometown: Ellicott City, Maryland
Plans: M.D./Ph.D., Duke University

UMBC has provided an environment of brilliant, supportive students who have helped keep me motivated and excited, as well as a team of teachers and advisors who cared about supporting and pushing me.

Andreas Seas’ research interests and passions span all three colleges at UMBC, and have taken him from labs at UMBC and other top research institutions to concert halls and Baltimore City high school classrooms.

Seas was one of three exceptional UMBC students to receive the prestigious Barry Goldwater Scholarship in 2016. He is a Meyerhoff Scholar, MARC U*STAR Scholar, and recipient of a NASA scholarship, and has also completed research with biomedical and surgical faculty at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. His research on the mechanics of the femoral artery and the pathology of peripheral arterial disease led him to publish five peer-reviewed articles and submit seven abstracts to notable professional conferences. 

On campus, Seas has served on the UMBC Honors College Council, coordinating events and projects to complement the Honors College experience. His mentors include Mariajose Castellanos, lecturer of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering; Jacqueline King, assistant director of the MARC U*STAR Program; Keith Harmon, director of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program; and Simon Stacey, interim vice provost and dean of undergraduate education. His academic achievements have earned his induction into three honors societies: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Tau Beta Pi.

When not in the classroom or the lab, Seas has served as a mentor in Baltimore’s Medical Education Resources Initiative for Teens (MERIT) Program, which works to support the next generation of diverse healthcare professionals. Connecting with peers, he has worked as a teaching assistant in biological sciences and a learning assistant in physics. Seas also enjoys the arts as a Greek folk dance instructor and as a viola player in the UMBC Community Symphony, where he is an assistant conductor.

In the fall, Seas will pursue joint M.D./Ph.D. degrees with a focus on biomedical engineering at Duke University.

Three current undergraduate students and one recent alumna have received highly competitive National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Awards for 2017.

Daniel Ocasio ‘17, chemical engineering; Matthew Landen ‘17, computer science; Brandon Enriquez ‘17, economics and mathematics; and Hollie Adejumo ‘16, chemical engineering, all received fellowships.                 

“UMBC is proud to have four of our undergraduate students and alumni chosen for this nationally competitive award — selected from over 13,000 applicants– to support their graduate study that will lead to research-based master’s or doctoral degrees in science and engineering,” said April Householder, director of undergraduate research and nationally competitive scholarships. “Daniel, Matthew, Brandon, and Hollie affirm UMBC’s commitment to the twin goals of undergraduate research and a distinctive undergraduate experience, and we look forward to what they will accomplish in graduate school and their careers.” 

Ocasio will use the fellowship funding to support a Ph.D. in environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He will study chemical contaminants in different kinds of water sources, and will develop technologies to treat the chemicals in the water for reuse applications. His work will include research with graywater, which is water from bathroom sinks, tubs, showers and washing machines. Repurposing both wastewater and graywater for drinking and other uses can help areas affected by water shortages manage water resources effectively.

“Being selected for the NSF GRFP, to me, is reassurance that I am prepared to excel in my graduate studies,” Ocasio said. “This opportunity will afford me freedom in my graduate research to pursue topics that may not otherwise get attention.”

In addition to the NSF GRF, Ocasio received the Ford Foundation Fellowship from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. Ford Foundation Fellowships aim to increase faculty diversity at institutions across the United States. Ocasio also received the National GEM Consortium Fellowship, which enables underrepresented minority students to pursue graduate education in science and engineering.

Landen will pursue his Ph.D. in computer science, with a focus on security and privacy issues, at Georgia Tech in the fall.

“By joining this community of scholars, I know I would have the ability to excel in a scientific environment by engaging in collaboration with fellows of diverse experiences to create novel discoveries,” Landen said.

Enriquez will pursue his Ph.D. in economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During his time at UMBC, he particularly values “how I am pushed by mentors to be innovative and creative,” he explains.

Beginning in fall 2017, Adejumo will pursue her Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of Michigan. Her research will focus on environmental biotechnology and water quality.

“I am both very humbled and honored to receive the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship,” she said. “This award will provide me with the flexibility and support that I need to pursue my interests and develop my research skillset.”

Adejumo also thanked her research collaborators and mentors, particularly Lee Blaney assistant professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering. “I attribute my success to their support,” she says.

This year’s range of NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awards continues a strong trend for UMBC. In 2016, six UMBC students and alumni from a diverse set of majors received the fellowship to pursue graduate study at Harvard Medical School and Stanford University School of Medicine, among other leading institutions.