College of Medicine
Flores Lab
Led by Catherine Flores · Neurosurgery
What we study
The Flores Lab studies pediatric gliomas, focusing on developmentally regulated antigens to target these brain tumors. They use experimental approaches to understand and treat these cancers.
What working here is like
- Wet lab
- Cells in a dish
- Mice
- Coding helps
- Projects
- 3
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Developmentally regulated antigens to target pediatric glioma
Investigating antigens that develop in pediatric gliomas to improve treatment strategies.
Radial Glial Cells are Source Antigen for Adoptive Cellular Therapy in Glioblastoma
The lab studies how cells that normally exist only in embryos, called radial glial cells, share markers with brain cancer cells. Students will help create a library of shared antigens and test T cells that target these antigens in mouse models.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 578
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Genetic engineering of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells
The project tested several ways—shRNA lentivirus, RNA electroporation, CRISPR, and AAV—to modify mouse and human blood‑forming stem cells, aiming to improve gene‑editing for future cancer immunotherapies.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 375
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Dendritic Cell Dysfunction Underlies Immune Escape After Adoptive Cellular Therapy in Glioblastoma
2026 · Cancers
Shows how dendritic cells may fail to fight tumors after adoptive therapy.
- CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells to accelerate the translation of cellular therapies and immunotherapies
2026 · Journal of Translational Research
Develops a CRISPR method to edit stem cells for immune therapies.
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- Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells overcome treatment resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors in preclinical gliomas 2240834
2026 · The Journal of Immunology
Builds a therapy combining stem cells, radiation, and immune drugs to fight brain tumors.
- Trogocytosis as a Cellular method for Identification of Antigen specific T cells in Adoptive Cellular Therapy 2265839
2026 · The Journal of Immunology
Uses trogocytosis to identify tumor-fighting T cells in adoptive therapy.
- Radial glial cells and glioblastoma: how developmental neurobiology can inform our understanding of brain cancer initiation, treatment resistance, and resilience
2025 · Translational Oncology
Compares brain tumor cells to stem cells that help build the nervous system.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Catherine Flores hasn't set up this page yet. You can also look them up in the UF directory (search “Catherine Flores”).