Gregory Allen, MD, PhD

Asst Professor In Residence

Medicine Home, Hematology and Oncology UCSF Health

Greg Allen, MD/PhD is a physician-scientist specializing in designing and translating next-generation immune cell therapies for solid tumors. He cares for patients with lung cancer at the Hellen Diller Cancer Center and runs a research laboratory at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.

The Allen Lab is focused on developing and applying advanced synthetic biology tools to dissect the fundamental design principles of the immune system. We use synthetic receptors, cytokines, and secondary messengers to generate novel alternatively engineered tumor-immune eco-systems, which we then interrogate with high-dimensional tools. From this ground-up systems biology perspective we are attempting to rationally design engineered cells to tackle the most challenging diseases we face in the clinic.

Education
Fellowship, 06/2018 - Oncology, UCSF
Residency, 06/2015 - Medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital
MD/PHD, 06/2013 - Biochemistry, Medicine, Stanford Medical School
BS, 06/2004 - Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
Honors and Awards
  • K08 Scholar, NIH - NCI, 2021
  • Fellow, Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund, 2017-2020
  • Geoffrey D. Parfitt Award for Excellence in Research, Carnegie Mellon, 2004
  • Alumni Award, Carnegie Mellon, 2001
Websites
Publications

  1. Zhang J, Tsukui T, Wu X, Brito A, Trumble JM, Caraballo JC, Allen GM, Zavala-Solorio J, Zhang C, Paw J, Lim WA, Geng J, Kutskova Y, Freund A, Kolumam G, Sheppard D, Cohen RL. An immune-based tool platform for in vivo cell clearance. Life science alliance 2023. PMID: 37311583


  2. Allen GM, Frankel NW, Reddy NR, Bhargava HK, Yoshida MA, Stark SR, Purl M, Lee J, Yee JL, Yu W, Li AW, Garcia KC, El-Samad H, Roybal KT, Spitzer MH, Lim WA. Synthetic cytokine circuits that drive T cells into immune-excluded tumors. Volume 378 of Issue 6625. Science (New York, N.Y.) 2022. PMID: 36520915


  3. Allen GM, Lim WA. Rethinking cancer targeting strategies in the era of smart cell therapeutics. Volume 22 of Issue 12. Nature reviews. Cancer 2022. PMID: 36175644


  4. Wong ML, Shi Y, Smith AK, Miaskowski C, Boscardin WJ, Cohen HJ, Lam V, Mazor M, Metzger L, Presley CJ, Williams GR, Loh KP, Ursem CJ, Friedlander TW, Blakely CM, Gubens MA, Allen G, Shumay D, Walter LC. Changes in older adults' life space during lung cancer treatment: A mixed methods cohort study. TO REMOVE 2021. PMID: 34611887


  5. Williams JZ, Allen GM, Shah D, Sterin IS, Kim KH, Garcia VP, Shavey GE, Yu W, Puig-Saus C, Tsoi J, Ribas A, Roybal KT, Lim WA. Precise T cell recognition programs designed by transcriptionally linking multiple receptors. Volume 370 of Issue 6520. Science (New York, N.Y.) 2020. PMID: 33243890


  6. Allen GM, Lee KC, Barnhart EL, Tsuchida MA, Wilson CA, Gutierrez E, Groisman A, Theriot JA, Mogilner A. Cell Mechanics at the Rear Act to Steer the Direction of Cell Migration. Cell systems 2020. PMID: 32916096


  7. Dannenfelser R, Allen GM, VanderSluis B, Koegel AK, Levinson S, Stark SR, Yao V, Tadych A, Troyanskaya OG, Lim WA. Discriminatory Power of Combinatorial Antigen Recognition in Cancer T Cell Therapies. Volume 11 of Issue 3. Cell systems 2020. PMID: 32916097


  8. Barnhart E, Lee KC, Allen GM, Theriot JA, Mogilner A. Balance between cell-substrate adhesion and myosin contraction determines the frequency of motility initiation in fish keratocytes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2015. PMID: 25848042


  9. Allen GM, Mogilner A, Theriot JA. Electrophoresis of cellular membrane components creates the directional cue guiding keratocyte galvanotaxis. Current biology : CB 2013. PMID: 23541731


  10. Wilson CA, Tsuchida MA, Allen GM, Barnhart EL, Applegate KT, Yam PT, Ji L, Keren K, Danuser G, Theriot JA. Myosin II contributes to cell-scale actin network treadmilling through network disassembly. Nature 2010. PMID: 20485438


  11. Barnhart EL, Allen GM, Jülicher F, Theriot JA. Bipedal locomotion in crawling cells. Biophysical journal 2010. PMID: 20303850


  12. Keren K, Pincus Z, Allen GM, Barnhart EL, Marriott G, Mogilner A, Theriot JA. Mechanism of shape determination in motile cells. Nature 2008. PMID: 18497816


  13. Allen GM, Shortall BP, Gemci T, Corcoran TE, Chigier NA. Computational simulations of airflow in an in vitro model of the pediatric upper airways. Journal of biomechanical engineering 2004. PMID: 15648813