Professional Researcher
Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California - San Francisco
I’m Daniel Waller, a PhD biochemist and professional researcher in the department of laboratory medicine at UCSF. My keen interest in multiple myeloma (MM) therapeutic development began during my postdoctoral training that focused on identification of small-molecule MM therapeutic strategies. During this fellowship in the department of medicine at McGill University, under the mentorship of Dr Michael Sebag and Dr. Chaim Shustik, I also cemented foundational clinical and translational research experience that further fueled my interest in MM research. I further reinforced my myeloma translational and therapeutic research interests during my staff scientist role in Dr. Kevin Hay’s lab located within the Terry Fox Laboratory at BC Cancer. My research in Dr. Hay’s lab focused on novel MM target discovery and strategies for enhancing the activity and safety of single domain antibody-based BCMA CAR-T cells that are presented in an abstract here at IMS 2025. Seeing the transformative potential of CAR-T cells and T cell engagers in the MM therapeutic area led me to pursue further immunotherapy research experience, which landed me in my current professional researcher role here at UCSF under the mentorship of Dr. Arun Wiita. My current research in the Wiita lab focuses on the development of a novel platform for intracellular delivery of protein therapeutics to engage cancer therapeutic targets that have been difficult to prosecute through conventional approaches. My research efforts in the Wiita lab also involve contributions to translational research aimed at advancing a best-in-class, fully non-viral, CD70-targeting CAR-T cell product for high-risk multiple myeloma. In the future I am hoping to return to Canada in an academic faculty position that will permit me to leverage my unique research background, my strong commitment for improving outcomes in MM, and my passion for immunotherapy discovery and translational research.