Joseph Skeate Awarded Research Fellowship

We are proud to announce that our new/renewed student, Joseph Skeate, has been awarded a 1-year Keck/Graduate School Ph.D. Fellowship for his studies starting in the fall of 2015.Joseph Skeate, MS

This winter Joseph was accepted into the Programs in Biomedical and Biological Sciences (PIBBS) program at the Keck School of Medicine and we are thrilled that he will be continuing his education here at USC. The fellowship itself is valued at $32,000 and will provide support for the first year of his Ph.D.

While his previous work focused on studying a viral synergism that occurs between the Herpes Simplex Virus and the Human Papillomavirus, Joseph now plans on exploring a new area: prostate cancer. He will be investigating the effects of a bi-specific fusion protein which has the ability to target prostate cancer cells at any site in the body.

The exciting part of this work is that not only will the protein hone in on prostate cancer cells, it will also recruit active T cells which can eliminate the target. Since treatment options for individuals with advanced stage disease is limited this research will hopefully pave a new immunotherapeutic avenue for prostate cancer treatments in the future.


Funding for this project is through a 3-year grant recently awarded to The Kast Lab by the United States Department of Defense.

2 thoughts on “Joseph Skeate Awarded Research Fellowship”

  1. Julia Taylor

    The Kast Lab is lucky to have such a hardworking student. This is definitely a well deserved fellowship. Congrats Joey!!!

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