Özcan Met

Özcan Met serves as a Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Immunology and Microbiology within the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen. He concurrently holds the directorship of the Cell Production Unit at Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet, a position he has maintained since September 2006, overseeing GMP-compliant cellular therapy manufacturing for clinical trials.

His research centers on molecular and cellular tumor immunology with four primary pillars: (1) engineering tumor-specific synthetic TCRs and CAR-T cells for adoptive immunotherapy; (2) optimizing co-stimulatory pathways to enhance tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) expansion; (3) applying CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to overcome T-cell functional restrictions; and (4) developing scalable GMP-grade TIL production methods for melanoma and solid tumor trials. This work bridges fundamental immunology with translational applications, focusing on overcoming tumor immune evasion mechanisms through metabolic reprogramming and receptor engineering.

Analysis of his recent publications (2022-2024) reveals a concentrated effort in advancing TIL-based therapies and next-generation cellular engineering. Key trends include targeting metabolic pathways in T-cell function (evident in mitochondrial respiration studies), developing novel scaffolds for selective T-cell expansion, and investigating biomarker-driven responses to checkpoint inhibitors. His work consistently emphasizes clinical translation, with multiple studies focusing on GMP production standards and therapeutic applications in pancreatic cancer, leukemia, and solid tumors.

As Director of the Cell Production Unit at Rigshospitalet, Met leads critical infrastructure for clinical cell therapy manufacturing, directly supporting immunotherapy trials through standardized TIL production and quality control systems. His collaborative network spans immunology, oncology, and translational medicine, evidenced by co-authorship on high-impact publications in journals including Science Immunology and Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.