James Allison Eases Off the Brakes

May 21, 2018 • by Marc Airhart

In today's episode of Point of Discovery, UT Austin alum James Allison talks about the uphill climb to make cancer immunotherapy a reality.

Portrait of a man in glasses and a white lab coat

Forty years ago, when James Allison had just gotten his PhD in biochemistry, he was intrigued by this far-out idea that was floating around about a new way to treat cancer. The idea—dubbed cancer immunotherapy—was to train the body's immune system to attack cancer cells—the same way this system already goes after bacteria and viruses. He was one of the few people who actually believed it could work.

Casual photo of three people at a musci club

Immunologist James Allison and wife, Padmanee Sharma, with singer Willie Nelson after Allison joined him on stage to play harmonica for one of the "top five moments" of his life. Credit: Houston Chronicle.

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