Ph.D,  Genetics

Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Postdoctoral Fellow, Molecular Biology and Immunology 

Louisiana State University, LA, USA and University of Maryland Baltimore, MD, USA

Degui Geng, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Geng received his Ph.D. degree in Genetics from Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and did his postdoctoral training in Molecular Biology and Immunology at Louisiana State University and University of Maryland Baltimore.  Dr. Geng's research has focused on cancer biology and cancer immunotherapy. He targets TApDCs to enhance cancer immunotherapy efficacy and mitigate immune-related adverse events in liver cancer. Dr. Geng has published papers in many high-impact peer-reviewed journals.

Liver cancer, plasmacytoid dendritic cells, immunotherapy, humanized mice

Geng D, Chen J, Sanchez A, Davalos SA, Wilcock P, GONZALEZ-RIVERA D, et al. Melanoma leverages innate immune IRAK-M signaling to limit metastasis through PTPN22-induced signaling repression. Cancer Letters. 2026, 639:218172.

Nielsen AJ, Albert GK, Sanchez A, Chen J, Liu J, Davalos AS, Geng D, et al. DNA-PK inhibition enhances neoantigen diversity and increases T cell responses to immunoresistant tumors. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2024, 134:1.

Geng D, Ciavattone N, Lasola JJ, Shrestha R, Sanchez A, Guo J, et al. Induction of IRAK-M in melanoma induces caspase-3 dependent apoptosis by reducing TRAF6 and calpastatin levels. Communications Biology, 2020, 3:306.

Geng D, Kaczanowska S, Tsai A, Younger K, Ochoa A, Rapoport AP, et al. TLR5 ligand-secreting T cells reshape the tumor microenvironment and enhance antitumor activity. Cancer Research, 2015, 75:1959-71.

Srivastava R, Geng D, Liu Y, Zheng L, Li Z, Joseph MA, et al. Augmentation of therapeutic responses in melanoma by inhibition of IRAK-1,-4. Cancer Research, 2012, 72:6209-16.

Tamada K, Geng D, Sakoda Y, Bansal N, Srivastava R, Li Z, et al. Redirecting gene-modified T cells towards various cancer types using tagged antibodies. Clinical Cancer Research, 2012, 18:6436-45.

Sakoda Y, Park JJ, Zhao Y, Kuramasu A, Geng D, Liu Y, et al. Dichotomous regulation of GVHD through bidirectional functions of the BTLA-HVEM pathway. Blood, 2011, 117:2506-14.

Geng D, Zheng L, Srivastava R, Velasco-Gonzalez C, Riker A, Markovic SN, et al. Amplifying TLR-MyD88 signals within tumor-specific T cells enhances antitumor activity to suboptimal levels of weakly immunogenic tumor antigens. Cancer Research, 2010, 70:7442-54.

Geng D, Zheng L, Srivastava R, Asprodites N, Velasco-Gonzalez C, Davila E. When Toll-like receptor and T-cell receptor signals collide: a mechanism for enhanced CD8 T-cell effector function. Blood, 2010, 116:3494-504.

Asprodites N, Zheng L, Geng D, Velasco-Gonzalez C, Sanchez-Perez L, Davila E. Engagement of Toll-like receptor-2 on cytotoxic T-lymphocytes occurs in vivo and augments antitumor activity. FASEB Journal, 2008, 22:3628-3637.