Clinical Focus

  • Pediatric Allergy and Immunology

Academic Appointments

Professional Education

  • Residency: Stanford Health Care at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (2017) CA
  • Medical Education: University of California San Diego School of Medicine (2014) CA
  • Board Certification: American Board of Allergy and Immunology, Allergy and Immunology (2019)
  • Fellowship: Stanford University Allergy and Immunology Fellowship (2019) CA
  • BS, Yale University, Biomedical Engineering
  • MS, Yale University, Engineering and Applied Science
  • PhD, University of California, San Diego, Biomedical Sciences
  • MD, University of California, San Diego

Patents

  • Davorka Messmer, Rebecca Saenz. "United States Patent 8,999,349 HMGB1-derived peptides enhance immune response to antigens.", UCSD, Apr 7, 2015

Contact

  • Academic
    rksaenz@stanford.edu
    University - Staff Department: Pediatrics - Immunology Position: Clinical Assistant Professor
    University - Affiliate Department: Pediatrics - Immunology
  • Clinical (Primary)  Stanford Children's Health Specialty Services Sunnyvale 1195 W Fremont Ave Sunnyvale, CA 94087 (650) 497-0399 (fax)

Additional Clinical Info

Additional Info

Current Research and Scholarly Interests

Allergy, Immunology, Bioengineering, Biodesign, Drug and Device Development, Clinical Trials, Clinical Research

Graduate and Fellowship Programs

  • Allergy/Immunology (Fellowship Program)

All Publications

  • A Case of Disseminated Pneumocystis Jiroveci in a Non-Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infected Patient Siddiqi, A. E., Sacha, J., Saenz, R., Liu, A., Kunder, C., Uzel, G., Martin, B., Lewis, D. B., Gernez-Goldhammer, Y. SPRINGER/PLENUM PUBLISHERS. 2019: S73–S74

    View details for Web of Science ID 000463709600114

  • Enhanced anti-tumor immune responses and delay of tumor development in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 mice immunized with an immunostimulatory peptide in poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic) acid nanoparticles. Breast cancer research Campbell, D. F., Saenz, R., Bharati, I. S., Seible, D., Zhang, L., Esener, S., Messmer, B., Larsson, M., Messmer, D. 2015; 17: 48-?

    Abstract

    Cancer vaccines have the potential to induce curative anti-tumor immune responses and better adjuvants may improve vaccine efficacy. We have previously shown that Hp91, a peptide derived from the B box domain in high-mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1), acts as a potent immune adjuvant.In this study, Hp91 was tested as part of a therapeutic vaccine against human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer.Free peptide did not significantly augment immune responses but, when delivered in poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic) acid nanoparticles (PLGA-NPs), robust activation of dendritic cells (DCs) and increased activation of HER2-specific T cells was observed in vitro. Vaccination of HER2/neu transgenic mice, a mouse breast cancer model that closely mimics the immune modulation and tolerance in some breast cancer patients, with Hp91-loaded PLGA-NPs enhanced the activation of HER2-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses, delayed tumor development, and prolonged survival.Taken together these findings demonstrate that the delivery of the immunostimulatory peptide Hp91 inside PLGA-NPs enhances the potency of the peptide and efficacy of a breast cancer vaccine.

    View details for DOI 10.1186/s13058-015-0552-9

    View details for PubMedID 25882711

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4407876

https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4612-8403