Antonia Rotolo, MD, PhD, University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, discusses the utility of canine models in establishing protocols for cell therapies and provides an overview of a pre-clinical study evaluating invariant natural killer T-cells (iNKTs) in dogs. In the past, canine models have been useful to define protocols for bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Dr Rotolo explains that canine iNKTs are highly similar to human iNKTs. Overall, the study showed that iNKT infusion led to activation of recipient effector and regulatory immune cells and induced a strong, long-lasting immune response in dogs. This interview took place at the Transplantation & Cellular Therapy (TCT) Meetings of ASTCT™ and CIBMTR® 2022 in Salt Lake City, Utah.