The Dreaden Lab uses molecular engineering to augment and improve the function of cancer therapies and immunotherapies. Our primary interest in the use of molecular engineering is the realization of non-natural immune function – that is, function not achievable using either naturally occurring or genetically engineered biology – and the overall goal of our work is to develop synthetic biomolecules that can serve as both probes of fundamental cancer immune biology and as immunotherapies that are more tissue-exclusive and patient-personalized. Our lab currently focuses on the development of three main cancer technologies: optically-triggered cancer immunotherapies, combination therapies for pediatric malignancies, and T cell-targeted immunotherapies.