Dr Rebecca Delconte got her PhD in immunology at the WEHI where she investigated the role of CIS as the critical negative regulator of IL-15 signaling in NK cells and how this pathway could be exploited to improve cancer immunotherapies. She then trained with Prof Joe Sun at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. During this time, Rebecca defined the tissue-specific metabolic processes that promote NK cell anti-tumor function in the context of dietary restriction and fasting; emphasizing the potential to harness metabolic reprogramming to improve immune cell survival and function in the hostile tumor microenvironment. These studies opened a previously underappreciated area of tissue-specific NK cell immunometabolism, which she continues to study with the hope of improving the next generation of NK cell immunotherapies. In September 2025, Rebecca will join the Peter MacCallum Cancer Center as a group leader in the department of Cancer Immunology. Her lab will focus on improving cancer therapies by defining the transcriptional, cellular and metabolic signals that govern the NK cell response to cancer.