Max Krummel

Matthew Krummel, PhD is the Chair of the UCSF ImmunoX Initiative and holds the Robert E. Smith Endowed Chair in Pathology. His lab specializes in using real-time imaging to launch and test hypotheses related to how the immune system processes information and makes decisions. Key recent discoveries have included determining features of T cell membrane topology that govern how they efficiently survey for antigens as well as the discovery of archetypal collections of immune systems in cancer, notably those involving networks of cells built around stimulatory dendritic cells and other myeloid cells and their cooperativity with adaptive immunity. His work spans scales from membrane organization, to cell biology, to entire immune systems. He received his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley and did postdoctoral studies at WEHI and Stanford University.

Dr. Krummel drives collaborative science: he founded a microscopy ‘collaboratory’ at UCSF which unites ‘shared’ technical personnel and he developed a novel industry consortium-funded project which unites studies of over 15 cancer indications to understand the biology of individual patients. Together with other UCSF faculty, he founded the ImmunoX initiative, a radical collaboration platform focused on methods and data sharing as a means to accelerate discovery and cures. This included the vision and resourcing to establish CoProjects and CoLabs at UCSF. These initiatives also emphasizes public outreach and interaction as a means to disseminate the value of science. Dr. Krummel’s work has led to multiple clinical advances including co-discovering anti-CTLA-4 ‘checkpoint blockade’ drugs (over 100,000 patients treated) and new next-generation therapies through Pionyr Immunotherapeutics, and now Foundery Innovations, ventures that he co-founded and which have extensive academic-industry collaboration. The aim of all of his work is to understand and apply the immune system to improve human health.