20.06.2025 Dr Natalia Ochocka-Lewicka from ICTER is completing a prestigious research internship at Stanford, developing gene editing methods using the CRISPR/Cas technique.
The beginning of a new chapter in the career of a young researcher and a chance for a breakthrough in immuno-oncology – this is how one can describe Dr Natalia Ochocka-Lewicka’s four-month stay at Stanford University School of Medicine. The trip is part of the SONATINA 8 grant and focuses on research on precise genome editing in immune system cells.
In search of the Holy Grail of medicine
Dr Natalia Ochocka-Lewicka, associated with ICTER since 2023, has begun a four-month research internship as a Visiting Postdoctoral Scholar in the prestigious group of Prof. Le Cong at Stanford University. The trip lasts from the beginning of May to the end of August 2025.
The host of the internship is the Cong Group – a research team known for its pioneering work on gene editing and single-cell profiling using machine learning. Prof. Cong himself co-created some of the world’s first tools based on the CRISPR/Cas9 system, which revolutionized gene therapies and became the basis for the development of modern molecular medicine.
“In cooperation with Prof. Le Cong’s team from Stanford University, we are working on further understanding how the immune system recognizes cancer cells. My goal is to investigate the mechanisms of antigen presentation – how immune cells inform themselves about the presence of a threat in the form of cancer. Thanks to molecular biology tools such as CRISPR/Cas, we can turn off specific genes and observe how their absence affects the functioning of immune cells. This allows us to determine which genes are key in the process of recognizing and fighting cancer,” explains Dr. Ochocka-Lewicka.
The project carried out by Dr. Ochocka-Lewicka is titled: “Studying the dynamics of antigen presentation by the MHC II complex in cancer immune escape using multimodal single-cell sequencing“. It aims to develop CRISPR/Cas gene editing methods in immune cells and apply them to study the mechanisms of antigen presentation by MHC II molecules in the context of cancer escape from the surveillance of the immune system.
The project focuses on one of the most current and dynamically developing topics of modern cancer immunology. An innovative approach, combining molecular biology, immunology, and single-cell sequencing technology, allows for to capture of complex biological processes with unique precision. The ultimate goal of the project is to identify factors that determine the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy, one of the most important and fastest-developing fields of modern medicine.
From microglia to Silicon Valley
Dr. Ochocka-Lewicka has been conducting research at the interface of neurobiology and cancer immunology for years. In her doctoral thesis, completed at the Institute of Experimental Biology. M. Nencki PAN, she studied the role of microglia – specialized immune cells of the brain – in gliomas. She was one of the first in Poland to use single-cell sequencing techniques to describe the tumor microenvironment in the central nervous system.
She is a laureate of the prestigious L’Oréal-UNESCO “For Women and Science” scholarship, the head of NCN research projects, and co-author of publications in Nature Communications and Cell Reports. At ICTER, she is a member of the Computational Genomics Team led by Dr. Marcin Tabaka, which focuses on the use of high-throughput single-cell sequencing technologies to understand the cellular heterogeneity of healthy and diseased complex tissues, with particular emphasis on the eye.
“In my research, I look for factors that influence the effectiveness of immunotherapy, which is one of the most promising ways of treating cancer. Used since 2011 worldwide and for over a decade in Poland, immunotherapy saves more and more patients every year and helps improve their quality of life, proving that this is a good direction of development. Therefore, my goal is to identify barriers that hinder an effective immune response to enable treatment among patients who currently do not qualify or for whom therapy has proven ineffective,” says Dr. Natalia Ochocka-Lewicka.
An internship in Silicon Valley is not only a prestigious step in a scientist’s career, but also a chance to transfer modern technologies to Polish laboratories. After completing her stay at Stanford, Dr. Ochocka-Lewicka plans to implement the acquired methods and approaches in her research work in Poland, developing projects related to immunotherapy and the function of the immune system in neurological and neoplastic diseases.
Her research is part of the global trend of searching for personalized gene and immune therapies – ones that will be effective, precise, and less burdensome for patients. Thanks to the work of researchers such as Dr. Natalia Ochocka-Lewicka, Polish science is gaining an international reputation and a real impact on the future of medicine.
