Justin Milner, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, has emerged in recent years as a young scientist to watch in the field of cancer immunology. In 2026 alone, he received two major awards — the V Foundation All-Star Translational Award and the AACR Trailblazer Cancer Research Grant — that highlight the breadth of his research program and the growing momentum behind his lab’s work.
Milner is Co-Principal Investigator with Gianpietro Dotti, MD, on the V Foundation award, which supports bold translational efforts to engineer T cells that can better withstand the hostile environment of solid tumors, where immune cells often lose function over time. The AACR Trailblazer award supports discovery-driven studies into the biological programs that govern how T cells adapt, persist, and respond within tumors. Together, these projects position the Milner Lab to pursue a central challenge in cancer immunotherapy: understanding why T cells fail in cancer and using that knowledge to build more effective immune-based treatments.
Milner is being well supported for his investigations into cutting-edge immunotherapies that utilize reprogrammed cells to solve some of the more challenging problems in cancer treatment. We sat with him recently to get a sense for what drives him and his collaborators toward greater heights and what is now possible because of these generous awards.
What drew you to cancer immunotherapy?
I was drawn to the field by the idea that the immune system already has the capacity to recognize and eliminate cancer but often fails to sustain that response. Early in my training, I became interested in what determines whether T cells remain functional or lose effectiveness over time. That question felt both fundamental and highly relevant to improving patient outcomes, and it has carried forward into everything my lab does today.
Can you describe your research in plain terms? What problem are you trying to solve, and where does your work fit into the broader puzzle?
We’re working to make immune cells more effective against cancer. While current therapies can work well, they often fall short because the cells become exhausted. Our research focuses on the internal programs that control how these cells function. Some of those programs are naturally inactive, and we’re trying to switch them on to improve how long the cells last and how effectively they fight tumors. Ultimately, we want to move beyond selecting good cells and instead design cells that are built to perform.
You’ve received two major awards in quick succession. What does this funding make possible?
We are very grateful for both of these awards. The V Foundation All-Star Translational Award supports work that can be difficult to fund through conventional mechanisms, given its higher-risk nature. That funding allows us to explore new ideas in tumor immunology and develop strategies to improve how T cells recognize and fight pancreatic cancer — a disease with a five-year survival rate of just 13.3%.
The AACR Trailblazer Grant, which was announced at the AACR Annual Meeting 2026 in April, gives us the resources and time to establish what we hope is a paradigm-shifting research direction: engineering entirely synthetic T-cell states that can take on solid tumors more broadly. Together, these awards allow us to pursue the kind of ambitious, longer-horizon science that can really move the needle.
What challenges are you and your peers having to confront in the field of immunology?
A central challenge is that while we can now describe immune cell states in great detail, we still have limited ability to control them in a predictable way. This is especially true in solid tumors, where the environment strongly suppresses immune function. Pancreatic cancer is a particularly striking example of this, with a tumor microenvironment that is notoriously hostile to immune cells.
What gives you hope for the next decade of cancer research?
There has been a clear shift from describing immune responses to actively engineering them. Advances in areas like single-cell analysis and synthetic biology are making it possible to define and manipulate cell states with increasing precision. This creates an opportunity to design therapies that are more consistent and effective across patients. Continued integration of these approaches will, I hope, lead to meaningful improvements in how we treat cancer.
Dr. Milner’s V Foundation award is part of the 2026 All-Star Translational Award Program, which recognizes previous V Foundation grant recipients continuing to advance the cancer landscape for patients. His AACR Trailblazer Grant is funded through a donation by Pfizer of its U.S. royalties from Bavencio® (avelumab).
– Tyler Rice, UNC Lineberger Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence