A. Karolina Palucka MD PhD is at the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research (BIIR) in Dallas. The Institute aims to manipulate the human immune system for therapeutic benefit in cancer, infectious and autoimmune diseases, and transplantation. Dr. Palucka earned her medical degree from Warsaw Medical Academy, where she focused on internal medicine and oncology. Her desire was to develop therapies for cancer but she says that she became frustrated when she realized “the lack of truly effective therapies based on chemotherapy or radiotherapy”. Dr. Palucka’s interests turned to immunology and using the body’s immune system to fight cancer.

This interest led her to the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, where she obtained a Ph.D. in Hematology and Immunology. After a postdoctoral fellowship in France studying how cytokines regulate the differentiation of monocytes into dendritic cells, Dr. Palucka joined Baylor Institute for Immunology Research in 1998.

Dr. Palucka and her team focus on the use of dendritic cells as vectors for cancer therapy. In this context, she is leading the vaccine production facility and the clinical trials program. She also leads a project to develop a mouse model of the human immune system to study human tumors and dendritic cell function. These ‘humanized’ mice are being used to develop improved vaccine strategies and to improve our understanding of how cancers evade the immune system.

She holds the Michael A.E. Ramsay Chair for Cancer Immunology Research.