Researcher

Jessica Teh, PhD

Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson (formerly)
Arvinas, Inc.

Education:

Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, Ph.D; Cell and Developmental Biology
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, B.Sc.;
Major: Biotechnology, Minor: Microbiology

Research Focus: 

“Enhancing the effects of CDK4/6 inhibition in melanoma”

Dr. Teh is committed to translational melanoma research, particularly looking at biomarkers of response to clinically relevant combination therapies utilizing CDK4/6 specific inhibitors to potentially provide long-term benefit to all genetic subsets of melanoma patients. Her studies under the mentorship of Dr. Andrew Aplin have led to the generation of a novel in vivo reporter system to quantitatively and temporally analyze the efficacy of CDK inhibitor-based therapies and to monitor therapeutic resistance. Her current efforts are focused on elucidating the mechanisms of acquired resistance to MEK and CDK4/6 targeting in NRAS-mutant melanomas and developing strategies to overcome resistance. With the recent FDA-approval of immune checkpoint inhibitors leading to durable response in patients, she is also interested in identifying novel antitumor effects of CDK4/6 inhibition on the host immune system that will potentially inform combinatorial strategies with immune checkpoint inhibitors.