Jacy Fang

Jacy Fang has many interests in engineering and research and at Columbia Engineering, she plans to expand her curiosities in bioengineering, where she hopes to transform observations into lifesavers.

Jacy Fang

Inspired by the people who create discoveries, she began her own journey in research since the summer before her junior year in high school, working under the guidance of Dr. Sadelain in his lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NYC. After hearing about the success of clinical trials of CAR-T cell therapy, she developed an interest for adoptive immunotherapy, in which a patient’s own blood is genetically modified and re-infused to target cancerous cells, and it sparked her passion for genetic and cellular engineering. She conducted research using immunotherapy studying memory T cells, and she demonstrated a novel method to reverse memory T cell type from aged cells into stem memory T cells, which have a potent anti-tumor properties. For her project, she was named a Siemens Competition Regional Finalist and a Regeneron Science Talent Search National Finalist.

At Columbia, over the summer, Jacy has gone on to conduct research in Professor Lance Kam’s Microscale Biocomplexity Lab where she continued to work with immunology and focused on T cells and their response to inhibition of activation due to signals from cancerous cells and how to inhibit these signals.

Outside her research, she is an editor for the Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal, where she enjoys the company of fellow researchers and engaging in exciting new research. She is also an admin of Columbia Splash, a bi annual event that brings over 600 high school students to Columbia to engage in classes ranging from cryptography to civil engineering to Greek mythology.