This month's IFG lecture hosts Dr. Dr. Alan Tackett, who is the Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Deputy Director of Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Immunotherapy can effectively eliminate cancer in some patients, but show little benefit in many other patients. Dr. Alan Tackett aims to understand why some patients show limited response and leverage this information to design new cancer immunotherapy. He leads a translational team at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute and focuses on histone epigenetic mechanisms that regulate gene transcription coupled to melanoma progression. He uses a suite of techniques including proteomics, immunohistochemistry, cell culture, tumorigenicity assays, ChIPseq, and cutting-edge mass spectrometry. His team also develops new technologies for epigenetic studies and quantitative assays for histone-modifying proteins.