1. CA R I N G  IN TE G R I TY  DI S C OV E R Y
1515 HOLCOMBE BOULEVARD  UNIT 429, HOUSTON, TEXAS 77030-4009 
713-792-2860(O)  713-794-5656(F) www.mdanderson.org
Larry W. Kwak, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Medicine
Chairman, Department of
Lymphoma and Myeloma
Justin Distinguished Chair in
Leukemia Research
Assoc. Dir. Center for Cancer Research
Immunology Research
1515 Holcombe Blvd. Unit 0429
Houston, Texas 77030
E-mail: lkwak@mdanderson.org
Telephone: (713) 563-6705
Fax: (713) 563-4625
To whom it may concern:
It is with great pleasure that I write this letter in support of Beatrisa Lerman’s application for Research
and Development or a managerial position in biopharmaceutical industry.
Beatrisa worked in my lab here at the MD Anderson Cancer Center for three and a half years (August
2010-May 2014). She joined as a senior research assistant, spending upwards of 60 hours each week
on development and advancement of her research project. She later became a graduate student in my
laboratory. Our research—the focus of our lab as a whole—lies within the field of tumor
immunotherapy, with studies primarily specific to the goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets for
lymphoma. Although Beatrisa did not come from tumor immunotherapy background, she
demonstrated great ability to learn new subject matter quickly, and in very short time had a firm grasp
on the previous research in the field and the techniques. As a result three months after joining my
laboratory she was awarded very prestigious Margaret L. Kripke Award for Tumor Immunology
Research for the best poster presentation.
Beatrisa’s project centered on identification of unique therapeutic targets on myeloid-derived
suppressor cells (MDSC), a major suppressive population in tumor microenvironment. The lack of
specific surface markers makes this population therapeutically evasive, promoting growth of tumor and
suppressing antitumor response by immune system. Beatrisa’s work on this project was essentially
autonomous; though she reported results to me, and I provided guidance, Beatrisa was asking the
critical questions, interpreting and analyzing data, and pushing forward the bounds of her research
herself.
As I quickly discovered, she has a knack for doing just that; in many ways, she proved to be a human
catalyst for virtually every aspect of her research project. For instance, perhaps the most significant
bottleneck to this project was screening of the vast phage peptide library and detecting enrichment for
specifically bound peptides. This is a very meticulous task that requires a lot of time, patience, and
excellent sterile technique. Before Beatrisa’s arrival in our lab, in fact, we had difficulty overcoming
this initial limitation, which was hindering this study. Beatrisa speeded up the identification and

2. enrichment process by working with the NEB PhD phage library and used various molecular biology,
biochemistry, genomic and proteomic tools (in which she had no extensive background) to rapidly and
specifically identify and screen the unique candidate sequences that we sought.
As alluded to earlier, Beatrisa’s ingenuity and efficiency—her uncanny ability to quickly adapt and
innovate—saved us months of valuable time and ultimately resulted in Nature Medicine publication in
which Beatrisa co-holds the first authorship.
Furthermore, Beatrisa possesses the personal qualities so crucial to the success of a developing
scientist. For one, I’m often blown away at how eager she is to learn and discover—how clearly she
loves anything and everything about the scientific process. In fact, she blew me away when, on the first
day, she displayed a knowledge about the field antibody engineering that would give many postdocs a
run for their money. On this note, of one thing I am definitely sure—she never stopped exploring.
Having expressed, on numerous occasions, her staunch desire to obtain a PhD degree and become an
outstanding scientist, Beatrisa is perhaps unparalleled in her singular adherence to the cause of
biomedical research.
But perhaps most importantly, Beatrisa has that “X” factor—that dogged determination that often
makes or breaks the career of a scientific investigator. Any seasoned researcher knows how easy it is to
get bogged down and beaten by day after day of negative results; how easy it is to get burned out when
weeks and months of work refuses to materialize in discovery. But despite setbacks at every step of the
way—often overwhelming for young trainees—Beatrisa remained dedicated, remained hungry, kept
digging deeper and trying harder, and continued to put in the long hours. She was rewarded for this
perseverance towards the end of her stay in our lab, with abovementioned first author Nature Medicine
publication. This promising manuscript involved the discovery of S100A9, the unique sell surface
receptor that is also found on human MDSC, which opens a potential for a translational application,
and could be a useful diagnostic biomarker. Although, for reasons beyond our control, Beatrisa could
not continue digging deeper, she has opened the door to a substantial discovery of a platform that can
be utilized for identification of unique surface targets on various cellular populations.
Finally, even as her time in the lab came to an end, Beatrisa developed a novel method to validate and
extend this discovery of unknown surface molecules in her absence—clever ways to pull down the
targets using the IgG-Fc-phage peptide fusions termed “peptibodies” and to promote the odds of
discovering a promising targets. Needless to say, her impact on our research will be felt for quite some
time to come.
I know, without doubt, that I’ll be reading about her groundbreaking research in Nature and the other
high impact scientific journals someday, and I’m glad to have been given the chance to mentor her
along the way. I encourage you to give Beatrisa your most careful consideration for the applied job
opportunity.
Sincerely,
Larry W. Kwak, MD, Ph.D.