[3] In 1995, Mak published a landmark paper on the discovery of the function of the immune checkpoint protein CTLA-4, thus opening the path for immunotherapy/checkpoint inhibitors as a means of cancer treatment.
[6] After finishing his degree at Wisconsin, Mak moved to Canada to begin his doctoral studies at the University of Alberta, Edmonton.
In 1980, Mak returned to Wisconsin to learn new techniques in the lab of Howard Martin Temin, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1975 for his discovery of the enzyme reverse transcriptase.
Mak employed a technique called molecular subtraction, used by virologists, to attempt to identify the T-cell receptor, which was so elusive at the time it was referred to as the "Holy Grail of Immunology.
[10] Mak's role in advancing the use of genetically altered mice in scientific study has led to important breakthroughs in immunology and understanding cancer at the cellular level.
By 1995, Mak had reached a high point in his career, when he and his team published their seminal findings on the function of CTLA-4,[4] thus paving the road for Immunotherapy and Checkpoint inhibition as potential anti-cancer therapies.
On August 1,[year needed] Agios announced that the FDA had approved their lead compound, IDHIFA®, for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.
He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and has been elected a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London (UK.)