Kristin Lastwika

Dr. Kristin Lastwika serves as Assistant Professor in the Translational Science and Therapeutics Division and Joint Assistant Professor in the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, while also holding membership in the Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center (IIRC). Her research leverages tumor-directed autoantibodies to develop novel lung cancer detection methods and immunotherapies.

Education:

• PhD in Immunology, George Washington University, 2014
• MSc in Immunology, University of Aberdeen, 2008
• BS in Biotechnology, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 2007

Her lab specializes in isolating tumor-specific autoantibodies directly from cancer patients using high-density antibody microarrays developed with the Lampe lab. This platform identifies autoantibodies binding to neoantigens created by post-translational modifications (citrullination, isoaspartylation, cancer-specific glycosylation), enabling translation into blood-based biomarkers, immunoPET imaging reagents, and antibody-drug conjugates. Current studies focus on lung cancer early detection and autoantibody-based immunotherapies.

As leader of the Lastwika Lab within IIRC, she employs techniques including custom antibody microarrays, epitope validation, antigen-specific B-cell isolation, and preclinical immunotherapy assessment. Her work has been featured in Fred Hutch publications covering non-invasive lung cancer diagnostics and blood-based detection methods since 2019.