Nolan Kearns
Boston,MA
Summary
A driven and passionate scientist with experience in B and T cell immunology, cell therapy and antibody-drug conjugate modalities, and early discovery research in autoimmunity and oncology. Most recently was a key lab-facing member of a matrixed team at Bristol Myers Squibb Discovery Immunology, where I directly contributed to the design and implementation of experiments to identify lead drug candidates.
Overview
5
5
years of professional experience
Work History
Associate Scientist
Bristol Myers Squibb
Cambridge, United States
08.2022 - Current
- A core team member within the Immunology & Cardiovascular department (ICV) responsible for designing and executing experiments, analyzing and drawing conclusions from multiple data sets, and using scientific findings to identify and profile multiple cell therapy and drug constructs
- Responsible for the design and execution of flow cytometry-based primary cell cytotoxicity assays and cytokine-release MSD assays to enable selection of a top CAR T cell drug construct from among 8 candidates in a six month time frame
- Responsible for in vitro efforts to screen and profile mutliple ADC constructs against a variety of target cells to assist in the selection of top candidates
- Excellent communication and people skills used to generate multi-department collaboration across sites, relay scientific data in a clear and concise manner, promote findings to upper management to progress screening of drug candidates, and present data updates in department-wide meetings
- Managed research tasks and coordinated timelines, findings, and goals between team members
- Assisted with the onboarding and skills development of multiple co-ops under the project team
Graduate Student, Dr. John Frelinger Lab
University of Rochester
Rochester, United States
08.2020 - 05.2022
- Carried out an individual research project utilizing immunohistochemistry to map and profile immune cell subsets and trafficking within a variety of tumor types
- Designed and published a novel method for performing Heat Induced Antigen Retrieval (HIAT) for IHC experimentation
- Maintained and catalogued laboratory equipment, supplies, and mouse colonies for the Frelinger Lab
- Presented and led discussions on scientific articles and publications
Undergraduate Research Assistant
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Rochester, United States
09.2019 - 03.2020
- Managed equipment, collected and organized data, and handled laboratory mice for in vivo experimentation
- Performed a multitude of diverse biological assays, and handled multiple laboratory duties including cell transfections, mammalian cell culture, and other assays, while also delivering weekly laboratory meetings.
Education
Master of Science - Microbiology and Immunology
University of Rochester School of Medicine And Dentistry
Rochester, NY05-2022
Bachelor of Science - BS - Microbiology
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY05.2020
Skills
- Multi-color Flow Cytometry (up to 18 colors)
- MSD assays assessing cytokine respone and safety profiles of drug candidates
- ELISA
- CAR-T cell production from human and mouse isolated T cells
- Cell Therapy research & development
- Antibody Drug Conjugate profiling
- PBMC, T cell subsets, and B cell isolations from human and mouse serum
- Primary & secondary cell culture
- in vitro cytotoxicity assays against varying target populations utilizing multiple modalities such as CAR-T cells and ADCs
Publications
- Kearns N, Norville K, Frelinger JG. Instant Pot for antigen retrieval: a simple, safe and economical method for use in immunohistochemistry. Biotechniques. 2023 May;74(5):237-241. doi: 10.2144/btn-2022-0043. Epub 2023 May 18. PMID: 37199238; PMCID: PMC10265304.
- Norville K, Skrombolas D, Ferry SL, Kearns N, Frelinger JG. A Protease Activatable Interleukin-2 Fusion Protein Engenders Antitumor Immune Responses by Interferon Gamma-Dependent and Interferon Gamma-Independent Mechanisms. J Interferon Cytokine Res. 2022 Jul;42(7):316-328. doi: 10.1089/jir.2022.0043. PMID: 35834651; PMCID: PMC9347422.
Timeline
Associate Scientist
Bristol Myers Squibb
08.2022 - Current
Graduate Student, Dr. John Frelinger Lab
University of Rochester
08.2020 - 05.2022
Undergraduate Research Assistant
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
09.2019 - 03.2020
Master of Science - Microbiology and Immunology
University of Rochester School of Medicine And Dentistry
Bachelor of Science - BS - Microbiology
University of Rochester