Crystal Mackall

Crystal L. Mackall (born August 21, 1960) is an American physician and immunologist. She is currently the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Stanford University.[1][2] She is the founding director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy.

Crystal Mackall
Mackall at the National Cancer Institute in 2002
Born
Crystal L. Mackall
Alma materUniversity of Akron
Northeast Ohio Medical University
AwardsNational Institutes of Health Director's Award
National Cancer Institute Director's Award
Scientific career
FieldsImmunotherapy
Chimeric antigen receptors
Pediatric oncology
T cell homeostasis[1]
InstitutionsStanford University
National Cancer Institute
National Institutes of Health
Websiteprofiles.stanford.edu/crystal-mackall

Education and early career

Mackall grew up in East Palestine, Ohio in a working class family; her father was a steelworker. She received her medical training through a six year BS/MD program, earning her bachelor's degree at the University of Akron and graduated summa cum laude.[3] She completed her medical education at Northeast Ohio Medical University, earning her Doctor of Medicine in 1984. She was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha honour society. Mackall completed an internal medicine and pediatrics Residency at Cleveland Clinic Akron General and Children’s Hospital of Akron in 1988.[3] In 1989, Mackall joined the National Cancer Institute as a fellow in pediatric oncology, where she began to focus on immunotherapy for cancer.[4][5]  She remained at National Institutes of Health until 2016, eventually serving as the Chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch.[6]  She moved to the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2016.[7]  She is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.[8][9]

Research

Mackall has pioneered cancer immunotherapies for children. Her early research defined the effects of traditional cancer therapies on the immune system, where she identified the role of the thymus in human T cell regeneration and discovered that Interleukin-7 (IL-7) is the main regulator of T cell homeostasis in humans.[9][10] Her group was among the first to demonstrate impressive activity of CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR T cells) therapies for childhood leukemia and also developed a CAR targeting CD22 that was active in this disease.[11]

Mackall has also worked on cancer vaccines, immunomodulation therapy and bone marrow transplants. She received the Lila and Murray Gruber Award for Cancer Research in 2019, In 2018 Mackall was awarded $11.9 million to lead a clinical trial using genetically modified immune cells that will recognise proteins in leukemia.[12] The trial will be conducted at the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy. She will modify the chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) to identify B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia and B-cell lymphoma.[12]

Mackall holds a number of patents relating to peptides and antigen receptors. She has served on the editorial boards of several cancer journals, including Cancer Today.

Awards and honors

Personal life

She identifies as LGBT.[15]

References
  1. Crystal Mackall publications indexed by Google Scholar
  2. Lee, Daniel W; Kochenderfer, James N; Stetler-Stevenson, Maryalice; Cui, Yongzhi K; Delbrook, Cindy; Feldman, Steven A; Fry, Terry J; Orentas, Rimas; Sabatino, Marianna; Shah, Nirali N; Steinberg, Seth M; Stroncek, Dave; Tschernia, Nick; Yuan, Constance; Zhang, Hua; Zhang, Ling; Rosenberg, Steven A; Wayne, Alan S; Mackall, Crystal L (2015). "T cells expressing CD19 chimeric antigen receptors for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in children and young adults: a phase 1 dose-escalation trial". The Lancet. 385 (9967): 517–528. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61403-3. ISSN 0140-6736. PMC 7065359. PMID 25319501.
  3. "Crystal L. Mackall, MD". aacr.org. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  4. "Crystal L. Mackall, MD". aacr.org. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  5. "Crystal Mackall". stanfordhealthcare.org. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  6. "Crystal Mackall, MD". parkerici.org. Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  7. "Crystal Mackall, MD". parkerici.org. Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  8. "Crystal Mackall". stanfordhealthcare.org. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  9. "Crystal Mackall, MD". parkerici.org. Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  10. "Immunotherapy Expert Crystal Mackall, MD, Joins Stanford Medicine Faculty - The ASCO Post". ascopost.com. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  11. Fry, Terry J; Shah, Nirali N; Orentas, Rimas J; Stetler-Stevenson, Maryalice; Yuan, Constance M; Ramakrishna, Sneha; Wolters, Pamela; Martin, Staci; Delbrook, Cindy (2018). "CD22-targeted CAR T cells induce remission in B-ALL that is naive or resistant to CD19-targeted CAR immunotherapy". Nature Medicine. 24 (1): 20–28. doi:10.1038/nm.4441. ISSN 1078-8956. PMC 5774642. PMID 29155426.
  12. "Mackall awarded $11.9 million for anti-leukemia clinical trial". med.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  13. "Crystal Mackall's Profile | Stanford Profiles". profiles.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  14. "Lila and Murray Gruber Memorial Cancer Research Award and Lectureship". www.aad.org. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  15. "+OUTlist". Stanford Medicine. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
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