Gregory Allen

Gregory Allen, MD/PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He is a physician-scientist specializing in designing and translating next-generation immune cell therapies for solid tumors. He cares for patients with lung cancer at the Hellen Diller Cancer Center and leads the Allen Lab at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.

Education:

• BS in Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University (2004)
• MD/PhD in Biochemistry and Medicine, Stanford Medical School (2013)
• Residency in Medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital (2015)
• Fellowship in Oncology, UCSF (2018)

Research Interests:

Dr. Allen’s lab focuses on synthetic biology tools to dissect immune system design principles, engineer tumor-immune ecosystems, and develop smart cell therapeutics. Key areas include CAR T cell engineering, synthetic cytokine circuits, and systems biology approaches to target solid tumors. His work emphasizes precision in antigen recognition and overcoming tumor immune evasion.

Publications:

His research spans Cancer Immunotherapy, Cell Biology, and Systems Biology, with notable contributions to CAR T cell design, cytokine signaling, and tumor microenvironment dynamics. Recent work includes engineering synthetic suppressor T cells and synthetic cytokine circuits to enhance T cell efficacy in immune-excluded tumors.

Awards:

• NIH NCI K08 Scholar (2021)
• Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund Fellow (2017–2020)
• Geoffrey D. Parfitt Award for Excellence in Research (Carnegie Mellon, 2004)

Grants & Funding:

Principal Investigator on an NIH K08CA259610 grant (2021–2026) for developing CAR T cell designs using combinatorial antigen detection.

Labs & Teams:

The Allen Lab at the Parker Institute integrates computational modeling, synthetic biology, and high-dimensional data analysis to advance cell therapies. Collaborators include Wendell Lim, Kole Roybal, and Matthew Spitzer.