Barbara Joyce-Shaikh completed her B.S. in molecular biology at San Jose State University. She has more than 20 years of biotech industry experience specialising in translational systems of immune function and immune-oncology. Her work has contributed several patents as well as medical literature published in journals such as ‘Nature,’ ‘Immunity,’ ‘Nature Medicine,’ and the ‘Journal of Experimental Medicine.’ She is currently a project leader in the discovery immuno-oncology group at Merck Research Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA,USA (Formerly DNAX Research Institute). Her current research utilises syngeneic and humanised mouse tumour systems to model how immune cells interact with the microbiome and tumour microenvironment with the goal to discover novel immunomodulatory agents and combinatorial treatments to fight resistant cancers.