Matthew Maxwell, a native of Durant, Oklahoma, recently received his PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).
Maxwell’s scientific research could help explain why patients with certain types of cancer—such as pancreatic and bladder cancer—who also have a mutation in the ARID1A gene are more likely to benefit from treatment with a type of cancer immunotherapy known as immune checkpoint inhibitors, compared to patients without this mutation.
The importance of Maxwell’s discovery lies in its potential to improve patient selection for treatment with immunotherapy, a critical challenge since fewer than 50% of cancer patients benefit from immunotherapy across most cancer types. However, for the patients who do respond, the results can be nothing short of miraculous. Some patients have been cured of advanced, previously considered deadly cancers after immunotherapy treatment—such as former President Jimmy Carter, who was cured of metastatic melanoma in 2015. Maxwell’s findings also provide a rationale for developing new combination treatment strategies that could increase the efficacy of immunotherapy, allowing more patients to benefit from this revolutionary approach.
Dr. Maxwell’s research was published in 2024 in Cell, a high-impact biomedical research journal, and was recognized with the UCSD Founding Faculty Award for Outstanding Publication by a UCSD Graduate Student.
Maxwell credits his family—especially his mother, Kim Maxwell—and his tribe, The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, for their support of his education and life in science.