WEHI Brain Cancer Centre Special Seminar hosted by Professor Misty Jenkins

Christian Capitani, MD

Professor, Division Chief, Division of Hematology, Oncology, Transplant and Cellular Therapy, Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, USA

Virus-free CRISPR edited CAR T cells for GD2+ pediatric solid tumors 

Davis Auditorium

Join via TEAMS

Including Q&A session

Dr. Christian Capitini is a tenured professor and chief in the Division of Hematology, Oncology, Transplant, and Cellular Therapy and the Jean R. Finley Professor in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology. He is serving as acting director at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center and director of clinical innovation at the Forward BIO Institute. He has received many awards for his clinical and research contributions, including the Department of Pediatrics Gerard B. Odell Research Award, the Janet Rowley Award from the University of Chicago and in 2025 was awarded a Champions of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), which recognizes 40 international scientists and institutions for significant contributions to the organization’s mission of advancing cancer immunotherapy. Nationally, Dr. Capitini served as at-large director of SITC and now serves on their executive board as Chair of Policy and Advocacy. Additionally, he is a founding section editor for the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer and serves on the executive board for the Pediatric Real World chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T Consortium.

Dr. Capitini leads an NIH-supported laboratory focusing on development of cell-based immunotherapies, including natural killer (NK) cells and CAR T cells, for the treatment of pediatric solid tumors. The Capitini Lab also develops alternatively activated macrophages for complications of bone marrow transplant, including graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) and acute radiation syndrome. Dr. Capitini was one of 13 U.S. site principal investigators (PI) for the first multicenter CD19 CAR T cell trial, which led to the FDA approval of tisagenlecleucel-T (Kymriah) for relapsed and refractory B cell leukemia. Currently, he is site PI for multicenter TCR T cell and CAR T cell trials for solid tumors. He is also a IDE sponsor and PI for a University of Wisconsin clinical trial expanding gamma delta T cells in vivo using zoledronate after alpha beta T cell depleted stem cell transplant. 

All welcome!