The research goal of Alex Marson’s lab is to understand the genetic circuits that control the function of cells in the human immune system, especially T cells. Marson and colleagues have developed new tools to accomplish efficient genome engineering in primary human immune cells with CRISPR. With this technology scientists can now readily rewrite specific sequences in human cells and interrogate the biological effects. These advances in genome editing will accelerate fundamental insights into how immune cells are “wired” and have potential to enhance the next generation of cell- based immunotherapies for cancer, infectious diseases, organ transplantation, and autoimmune diseases.
Disease Areas
Areas of Expertise
Lab Focus
Research Impact
Marson’s team is pioneering new CRISPR gene-editing technologies that offer faster, cheaper and more precise ways to re-write DNA programs in human immune cells. With these tools, the lab is engineering cells to treat a wide range of diseases. They are designing programs to make cells that can recognize and eliminate cancer, cells that are resistant to infections like HIV, and cells that can reduce inflammation in autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis. Reprogrammed human immune cells are emerging as a new class of “living” medicines.
Professional Titles
Connie and Bob Lurie Director, Gladstone-UCSF Institute of Genomic Immunology
Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institutes
Center Director, The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Gladstone Institutes
Professor, Departments of Medicine and Microbiology and Immunology, UC San Francisco
Director, CRISPR Cures for Cancer Initiative
Bio
Educated and trained as an infectious disease physician as well as a biologist, Alex Marson knows how to optimize cross-disciplinary investigation. His own laboratory team comprises scientists from the fields of genomics, immunology, infectious diseases, and genome engineering.
Marson launched his research career at UC San Francisco in 2012, focusing on using CRISPR to get inside human immune cells and amplify their disease-fighting capabilities. In 2020, he joined Gladstone Institutes to direct the Gladstone-UCSF Institute of Genomic Immunology. Here, his team is genetically modifying cells to create “living medicines” that can fight cancer, infectious diseases, and autoimmune diseases.
After earning an MPhil in biological sciences from Cambridge University in 2003, Marson complemented that with a PhD in biology from Whitehead Institute at MIT in 2008. There he worked closely with two pioneers of gene regulation, Rudolf Jaenisch and Rick Young. Two years later, he completed his MD at Harvard Medical School, followed by an internship and residency at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Marson serves as the scientific director for biomedicine at the Innovative Genomics Institute, founded by Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna. He is a director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Gladstone Institutes and was chosen one of the inaugural investigators at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub. Marson also co-founded Arsenal Bio, Site Tx, Survey Genomics, and Spotlight Therapeutics, and he serves on the scientific advisory boards for Amgen, NewLimit and Tenaya Therapeutics.
What Keeps You Inspired about Your Research?
“I am inspired by the brilliant, creative and collaborative group of scientists in the lab – undergraduates, technicians, graduate students, postdocs and professional staff – that work together across disciplines. They have transformed human immune cells into a tractable system for functional genetic studies and are integrating experimental innovations, classical immunology, human genetics, computational biology, synthetic biology and clinical expertise to make fundamental discoveries and design immunotherapies of the future.”
Honors and Awards
2022 Elected member, Association of American Physicians
2019 Elected member, American Society for Clinical Investigation
2019 Cancer Research Institute Lloyd J. Old STAR Program award
2018 Named to “Wired” Magazine’s “25 Icons of the Next 25 Years” list
2016 NIH/NIDA Avenir New Innovator Award
2016 Burroughs Wellcome Foundation Career Award for Medical Scientists
2016 American Society of Clinical Investigators Young Physician-Scientist Award
2010 James Tolbert Shipley Prize for Excellence and Accomplishment in Research, Harvard
Publications
Contact
Alex Marson
Email
415.734.4861
Jackie Sawin
Administrative Program Manager
415.734.4861
Email