Dr Gargett is an early-mid career researcher and received her PhD (Medicine) from University of Adelaide in 2013. Since 2014, she has been the scientific lead for a phase 1 trial of CAR-T cell therapy for solid cancers (CARPETS), and is also the scientific lead on the newly opened phase 1 trial of CAR-T cell therapy for patients with glioblastoma (KARPOS), with responsibility for place-of-care CAR-T manufacturing at SA Pathology. In this role she has manufactured clinical CAR-T cell products that have been successfully administered to 17 patients at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and 3 pediatric patients at the Sydney Children’s Hospital, and conducted and reported scientific investigations into the immune responses and biological correlates of CAR-T cell therapy in these patients. In 2019, she was awarded the SA Cancer Council Beat Cancer Early Career Fellowship, and in 2022 the Florey Mid-Career Research Fellowship. She is a sitting member of the Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee to the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, Canberra (2017-ongoing); SA Pathology IBC deputy chair, and Treasurer for the regional executive for the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy. Her career goal is to help realize the potential of cell and gene therapies to transform the lives of patients.
