Carl June

Carl June is the father of CAR-T cell therapy who led the development of CD19-targeted CAR-T cells at the University of Pennsylvania, resulting in the first FDA-approved CAR-T cell therapy tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2017. His laboratory engineered the second-generation CAR construct with 4-1BB co-stimulatory domain that became the foundation for commercial CAR-T products, and his early clinical trials produced dramatic complete remissions in patients with refractory leukemia. His work fundamentally transformed cancer treatment by demonstrating that genetically engineered immune cells could eradicate advanced cancer.