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Rimas Orentas

@cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social
229 followers 132 following 51 posts

Immunotherapy R&D - looking to develop immunotherapy, cell and gene therapy, and make an end to sickle cell disease.

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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 5h
My 1st science job was @BARC (Beltsville Agricultural Research Center) the @npr.org story today understated the scope of this center- it’s the NIH for agriculture with a critical mass of researchers advancing the field. As my lab chief used to say, NIH? Try living without food. @usdagov.bsky.social
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Incredible facility in Baltimore -4MLK hosting Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund celebration. We heard the political will it took to follow the example of @cirmnews.bsky.social and make Maryland a place for innovation and cures. Thanks to Del. Rosenberg and Dr. Curt Civin for making this a reality
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
More great results with stacking Epocritamab with Rituximab in follicular lymphoma. So, a new generation anti-CD3xCD20 bispecific antibody plus established anti-CD19 antibody. #iwNHL26 these are early results and we need longer time observation. Amazing nevertheless
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Stacking ADCs and bi-specific antibodies is showing really strong responses!! #iwNHL26 moreover the degree of tumor destruction is likely to increase antigen release and presentation
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Dr. Gilles Salles @mskcc.bsky.social demonstrates mechanisms of resistance to anti-CD79B ADC. In general though, really effective. #iwNHL26
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Dr Ahmet Dogan presenting at the 23rd International Workshop on NHL, presents a key question in T cell (and other) malignancies….are we treating cell state or cell of origin #iwNHL26
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Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Asymmetric cell division explains why 4-1BBζ CAR-T cells preferentially generate durable memory progeny whereas CD28ζ CAR-T cells skew toward short-lived effector fates @natimmunol.nature.com @i3h-upenn.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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bioRxiv Immunology @biorxiv-immuno.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Spatial Orchestration of Skin Fibrosis by a CD8+ T cell-Myofibroblast Axis www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
10-Year Study Affirms Life-Changing Benefits of Hydroxyurea for Sickle Cell Anemia @cincyresearch.bsky.social scienceblog.cincinnatichildrens.org/10-year-stud... www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... @nejm.org
scienceblog.cincinnatichildrens.org
10-Year Study Affirms Life-Changing Benefits of Hydroxyurea for Sickle Cell Anemia - Research Horizons
A 10-year study in Uganda shows hydroxyurea dramatically reduces complications and death from sickle cell anemia, offering hope for wider global treatment access.
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Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Bhattacharya’s legacy The US had a “world-class Ebola lab in Frederick, Maryland, with the NIH,” designed to develop vaccines & treatments. The lab would normally be swinging into action. “But that lab was shuttered last year, with staff laid off abruptly”😢 www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
theguardian.com
US is ‘simply choosing not to stop’ Ebola outbreak after massive public health cuts, experts say
Hundreds of cases reported in the DRC after USAID has been dismantled and key scientific research canceled
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
So our anti-HIV CAR makes it to the NYT. LV from Miltenyi, funded by CIRM @cirmnews.bsky.social - article should also highlight Dr Abedi’s team @ucdavismedschool.bsky.social @ucdavis.bsky.social where patients are being treated. #HIVcure #HIV #ASGCT26 www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/h...
nytimes.com
A Single Infusion Could Suppress H.I.V. for Years, Study Suggests
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Carl June showing the impact of anti-FAP CAR-T cells in pancreatic cancer #AACR26 @upenn.edu #PanCan #CARTcell #immunotherapy Target the tumor stroma!
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Amazing prostate cancer organoid system development: Romero and Sawyers #AACR26 #MSKCC
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Thank you again @michaeldgreen.phd for speaking out. I don't know what bothers me more: Director Bhattacharya's callousness that damaging the careers of talented young scientists is "the cost of doing business" for his politics or His ignorance and lack of imagination about experimental design.
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γδ T cell Forum @forum-gd.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Ex vivo expanded allogeneic Vδ2 T cells specifically reduce reservoirs of HIV-1 following latency reversal #gdTcells @insight.jci.org
doi.org
JCI Insight - Ex vivo expanded allogeneic Vδ2 T cells specifically reduce reservoirs of HIV-1 following latency reversal
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
M Spencer Chapman showing Clonal hematopoiesis in old age with really deep and broad sequencing of somatic mutations #tandem26 @sangerinstitute.bsky.social post HSCT mapping shows clonal evolution and expansion -older donors have 10 fold less founding stem cell clones
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Greg Britton @gmbritton.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Hopkins has a terrific book on student surveillance: www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/... @hopkinspress.bsky.social
press.jhu.edu
Smart University
Student Surveillance in the Digital Age
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Protik Islam-Jakobsson @protik.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Thinking of how many Swedish doctors and researchers lionized this dipshit
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Glimmers of hope to change the system and make curative therapy more broadly available #tandem26 great session on access with Drs Urbanio-Ispizua (Barcelona) Maziarz (Portland) thanks to Sumi, David, Anna and Jeff for the session as well
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Dr M Walters presents BMT CTN Haplo Sickle Cell (Peds Arm). Good news, when it works it works. However Chronic GvHD remains a serious issue (30% at 2 years) as do high levels of infection, and even a few graft failures. #Tandem26 IMO- not ready to globalize,more refinement (or gene therapy) needed.
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Watch this video if you want to cry over overwhelming decency rather than over rage about what some are trying to turn our country into.
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Miguel Perales MD @drmiguelperales.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
#ash25 Another potentially practice changing study presented by myeloma superstar Marivi Mateos - Ph3 of Tec-Dara in RR MM #mmsm 1/n
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Thanks to Orlando and the wonderful staff @ash.hematology.org #cscevents #OCCC #orangecountyconventioncenter - I lost my iPhone there-within 12 hours it was at the lost and found office after multiple hand-offs. This kind of service makes it a place you want to return to. Thank you! #ASH25
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Mid-blowing data #ASH25 from MJ Friedrich -recreating a thymic environment in the liver via LNPs generated young T cell phenotype and this correlates to better response to checkpoint blockade in mouse tumor models and better vaccine responses @technologyreview.com @broadinstitute.org
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Michelle Weeks presenting a Master Class in DNA sequencing at #ASH25 of over 4,000 #sicklecelldisease cases showing clonal hematopoiesis starts at infancy and increases to 7.1% by age 11 @danafarber.bsky.social drivers include TP53, ATM, PPMID, CHEK2 @ascaa.bsky.social @conquerscd.bsky.social
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Senator Bernie Sanders @sanders.senate.gov · 04/12/2025
At one point or another, we're all going to need to see a doctor. But our health care system remains unaffordable, inaccessible, and deeply dysfunctional. It is unacceptable. That’s why a strong majority of Americans agree: We need Medicare for All.
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Are you using the right tumor micro environment model? Cancer is a disease of aging @sitcancer.bsky.social #SITC25 great session at the annual meeting on the aged immune system and the tumor micro environment moderated by Drs DA and A Weeraratna.
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Great session exploring neuro-immunology in cancer immunotherapy #SITC25. Clearly we have much to learn about this little studied part of tumor biology. U Von Adrian demonstrated how afferent neurons organize and activate MDSCs at the tumor site @sitcancer.bsky.social
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Shannon K. Oda, Ph.D. @shannonkoda.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Excited to present our work at SITC this weekend! Join us on Saturday for Ryma Toumi's poster #796: Engineering T cells to reprogram inhibitory macrophages #SITC2025 #CancerResearch
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Hill Day @sitcancer.bsky.social sharing our support for the NIH and immunotherapy for cancer w Dr Robyn Gartrell and Andrew Donlon from Rep McClain Delaney’s House Office. Thanks also to staffers from Sen Van Hollen and Alsobrooks office for hosting us as well.
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Our science at SITC -2 abstracts in the top 150 #Miltenyi #SITC25 #SITC2025 MSLN armored CAR-T (208), PSMA armored CAR-T (228) Spatial proteomics of post Tx sarcoma (243) CD5 CAR-NK (252) BCMA bi-paratopic CAR-T (292) CD276 CAR-T fitness (295) hypoxia expanded NK cells (390) @sitcancer.bsky.social
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
Leroy Hood holds forth on the future of genomics and phenomics. Just as we only now have incorporated epigenomics into human biology- there is likely still missing major data sets to allow new advances to come. i e. one proteins can be modified 400 different ways. @systemsbiology.bsky.social
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
The CAR-T therapy team at Taichung medical center in Taiwan - amazing world class work. This includes new CARs from #Miltenyi, Novartis Tcharge for autoimmune disease and a robust regenerative medicine program
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
#UNGA80 #ECSA East, Central, Southern Africa Session at the UN General Assembly Mtg #ScienceDiplomacy chair Prof Ntobeko Ntusi looking to bridge divides through shared knowledge and establishing regional centers of excellence. We are here to advocate for global health for the UN Pact for the Future
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Having visited private and public institutes (view is the medical school at Albert Einstein SOM in São Paulo)- I am inspired by the new approaches for cell and gene therapy. Most of the world has looked at what our “market” has produced and is creating affordable alternatives
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Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
No one, at this point, is stupid and venal enough to take the administration up on this - right?
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
Dr Hanahan wins the Pezcoller! #AACR25 @theaacr.bsky.social and published today the IL-1 signature of tumors induces systemic immunosuppression_ and is reversed by anti- IL-RAP antibody.
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
Wonderful overview today by Ken Anderson @theaacr.bsky.social #AACR25 of the advances in MM- adding CARs to degraders (imids) and blockers (bortezomib) both of which also have immune activity has completely changed the outlook for patients- and that’s why we are here
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Fred LeMaistre MD, FASTCT @fredlemaistre.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
We owe him much for his leadership at CBER during a period of remarkable therapeutic advances. The havoc caused by this administration will have a devastating impact for years. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
washingtonpost.com
RFK Jr. forces out Peter Marks, FDA’s top vaccine scientist
Marks, an architect of Operation Warp Speed for coronavirus vaccines, warned that a measles outbreak shows how confidence in science is being “undermined.”
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Paula Rage Against the Regime Wash @paulawalla11.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
At 9 yrs old, my granddaughter was diagnosed with DIPG. It is terminal, usually within 9 months. Because of Dr. Vitanza at Seattle Children’s and clinical trials, we had her mostly symptom free for about 32 months. Make these cuts make sense! I am outraged!
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Jim Boonyaratanakornkit @jimboonya.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Engaging talk by Jen Adair @fredhutch.bsky.social Tandem2025 @astct.bsky.social on efforts to make cell and gene therapy available in low and middle income countries. Academic centers need to step up. Great to see my friend @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social in the Global Gene Therapy Initiative
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Dr S Davies from cincinnatichildren’s presents a challenge-using a new vector system and reduced intensity conditioning to keep #sicklecell therapy low cost by keeping the process in academic medical centers & not a strictly high-priced pharma product @ascaa.bsky.social @astct.bsky.social #Tandem25
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Dr M Bleakly from @fredhutch.bsky.social delivering a master class on using minor antigens to create anti-leukemia T cells in the context of HSCT @astct.bsky.social #Tandem25 incredible analysis of hematologic restricted targets
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Dr N Shah from MCW presenting Tandem CD20-19 CAR-T using fresh in/fresh out manufacturing allowing many patients to receive this therapy who otherwise would not qualify @astct.bsky.social #Tandem25
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Luke Timmerman @luketimmerman.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Defend the NIH. timmermanreport.com/2025/02/defe...
timmermanreport.com
Defend the NIH - TimmermanReport.com
Too many people don’t believe anymore in the American Dream. But if you can’t dream big, you can’t accomplish big things. Today, the National Institutes of Health — biomedical science itself — is unde...
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Brian Nosek @briannosek.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Stand Up for Science rallies will be held in DC and state capitals on March 7th. Share with friends. Sign-up here to get email updates with details: www.eventbrite.com/e/stand-up-f...
eventbrite.com
STAND UP FOR SCIENCE 2025 - DC and NATIONWIDE
Stand up for science with us on March 7th, 2025, because science is for everyone! More info at www.standupforscience2025.org
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Michael Holmes presents wall shaking data showing in vivo gene therapy using #Tessera gene writers to cure sickle cell disease and create CARs directly in vivo in model systems #Tandem25
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Andy Sharenberg #UmojaBio presents the direct in vivo platform to create CAR-T #Tandem2025
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Rimas Orentas @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
@lulii4.bsky.social love the 4
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