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For patients with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia, relapse after bone marrow transplant signals a low chance of survival. But results from a small trial of genetically engineered immune cells show promise for keeping these patients out of danger: Of the 12 AML patients who received this experimental T-cell therapy after a transplant put their disease in remission, all are still in remission after a median follow-up of more than two years.

This spring, five “young investigators” working at the Seattle cancer research center ― or soon to join it ― received entirely unexpected notes from Fred Hutch president and director Dr. Gary Gilliland. And the notes carried a bigger surprise. Each scientist had been awarded a $100,000 grant for “unrestricted” research in their laboratories.

Immunotherapy researcher Dr. Aude Chapuis moved from Switzerland to the United States in 2003. Get to know the avid skier and parent to a Play-Doh chef.

Matthew Flood, a retired EMT from the Tacoma Fire Department, is one of 10 patients with metastatic melanoma treated with an experimental combination of immunotherapies between 2011 and 2013. In a study published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the research team described the small clinical trial and how the patients have fared in the years following their treatment. Flood is now in complete remission five years after receiving the combo immunotherapy.

Dr. Phil Greenberg’s team at Fred Hutch has developed methods to genetically modify T cells, a type of immune cell, to specifically seek out cancer cells while they ignore healthy cells. On Wednesday, he presented results of an early-stage trial at the American Association for Cancer Research annual conference in New Orleans that appear to show promise in preventing disease relapse after blood stem cell transplantation.

Fred Hutch immunotherapy experts share their perspectives on a few of the big questions in cancer immunotherapy research — and the steps that they and their colleagues are taking to answer them as quickly as they can.