Dr. Kochenderfer is a pioneer in the development of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for cancer. In 2010, Dr. Kochenderfer and colleagues were the first to demonstrate the antigen-specific activity of anti-CD19 CAR-expressing T cells in humans by reporting the complete eradication of CD19-expressing B-lineage cells along with remission of lymphoma in a patient who received anti-CD19 CAR T cell therapy. Dr. Kochenderfer was the first to demonstrate that anti-CD19 CARs can be effective against diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Recently, he has demonstrated that remissions of advanced lymphoma caused by anti-CD19 CAR T cells are often durable for more than 3 years and that these remissions can persist even after anti-CD19 CAR T cells have disappeared from the blood of patients. The anti-CD19 CAR that Dr. Kochenderfer originally developed was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2017.

Dr. Kochenderfer is currently developing novel therapies for multiple myeloma, an almost-always incurable malignancy of plasma cells. To develop a therapy for multiple myeloma, Dr. Kochenderfer designed, constructed, and carried out preclinical testing of the first CAR targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA), a protein expressed by most multiple myeloma cells. Dr. Kochenderfer was the principal investigator of the first-in-human clinical trial of an anti-BCMA CAR, which showed that anti-BCMA CAR T cells have potent activity against relapsed multiple myeloma. Dr. Kochenderfer has been instrumental in developing the anti-BCMA CAR T-cell therapy known as bb2121, which has now progressed to international phase II clinical trials.