Mammad Pezeshki Email & Phone Number

I am an immunologist with a broad background in this field. I am passionate about immunotherapy approaches for cancer treatment. I did my Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Jacques Thibodeau at the Université de Montréal, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Laboratory of Molecular Immunology. The subject of my doctoral thesis was “Modulation of MHC class II presentation in dendritic cells”. This project involved me in molecular biology techniques to produce mutant MHC class II molecule (HLA-DMY), production and isolation of recombinant Adenovirus, production, and purification of anti-HLA-DM antibody, and generation of Dendritic cells from PBMCs and bone marrow. I also evaluated T cell immune response to adenovirus-transduced antigen-presenting cells. I have shown that cell surface expression of HLA-DM, improves peptide loading and polarizes helper T cell (Th) response in Th1 direction that favoring anti-cancer immunity.Later, I joined Dr. XY Wang’s Lab at Virginia Commonwealth University and worked as a postdoctoral fellow on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperones and their application in cancer immunotherapy. In his Lab, I got acquainted with mouse models of cancer. I also learned ex vivo expansion of tumor-reactive T cells, their transduction with Lenti and Retroviral vectors, and adoptive T cell therapy in mice tumor models. This experience provided a strong prelude for my move to Dr. K Khazaie’s Lab at the Mayo Clinic. His Lab focuses on the prognostic significance of regulatory T cell function and interface with microbiota in human colorectal cancer. I have established multicolor immunofluorescence in situ staining of human surgical specimens and mouse tumors, 12 color flow cytometry staining, multicolor ELISPOT assays and breed mouse models of colon cancer. In collaboration with a pharmaceutical company, I have evaluated the protective efficacy and immune mechanisms of their Cancer therapy approach, the oncolytic bacteria Clostridium novyi-NT. The results of this research were led to publication and moving the study to phase I clinical trial of the combination of their approach with immune checkpoint inhibitors. My next adventure in science was to join Dr. G Vasmatzis's group, the Biomarker Discovery. Here, my focus is on the development of a model for the evaluation of immune checkpoint inhibitors. My research has led to 21 “PubMed” cited articles I am the first author in 5 of them. My papers have been cited 2370 times by now.

Listed skills include Powerpoint, Immunoassays, Qpcr, Multi Color Flow Cytometry, and 46 others.