GPT · OpenAI
How GPT-5 helped immunologist Derya Unutmaz solve a 3-year-old mystery
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The model’s ability to augment human expertise could help advance fields including cancer research, autoimmune disease, and infections.
Key facts
- GPT‑5 Pro suggested that deoxyglucose interfered with the construction of a protein called IL-2
- Then GPT‑5 Pro came out in late 2025 and Unutmaz decided to resurface the experiment
- When Unutmaz asked GPT‑5 Pro to simulate the same experiment, it correctly predicted the boost in the CD8+ cells’ ability to kill lymphoma cells
- Most recently, Unutmaz has experimented with advanced AI tools, including Codex and GPT‑5.2 Deep Research, to help compile large-scale cancer mutation datasets and generate research
Summary
Doctor and immunologist Derya Unutmaz has been interested in artificial intelligence for years. The mystery centered on a basic but consequential question in immunology: how does glucose affect the way T cells develop and specialize? Today, Unutmaz—a professor at The Jackson Laboratory and the University of Connecticut—says AI has become so central to his work that he can’t imagine doing science without it. The puzzle began in 2022, when Unutmaz performed an experiment trying to understand how a type of sugar called glucose affected the development of T cells.