Sarwish Rafiq, PhD
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Research Program
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Phone Number
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Email Address
Biography
Sarwish Rafiq, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine. Prior to joining Emory in 2019, Dr. Rafiq was a post-doctoral researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York.
Education
Dr. Sarwish earned her PhD in Immunology/Cancer Biology from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. She completed her post-doctoral training in cellular immunotherapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York.
Titles & Roles
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Assistant Professor, Department of Hematology and Medical OncologyEmory University School of Medicine
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Program Leader for CAR T Basic/Translational Research, Winship Center for Cancer ImmunologyWinship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Research
Harnessing the power of the immune system to treat cancer has proven to be a promising therapeutic option for patients. The overall goal of Dr. Rafiq's research is to use mechanistic insight of immune effector cell function and interaction with cancer cells in the tumor microenvironment to inform the development and translation of novel engineered cellular immunotherapies. In particular, her work focuses on the genetic engineering of synthetic receptors known as Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CAR). Despite the transformative effect CAR T cells have had on the treatment of some types of leukemias and lymphoma in recent years, obstacles remain in expanding this technology for more widespread use in cancer.
As a translational cancer researcher, Dr. Rafiq's studies aim to engineer novel CARs to target both solid and hematological malignancies as well as deliver immune-modulating or toxic agents locally to the tumor microenvironment.
Publications
| Title/Journal | Authors | Publication Date |
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Nature communications |
Y Shen, E Connolly, M Aiello, C Zhou, P Chappa, H Song, P Tippitak, T Clark, M Cardenas, N Prokhnevska, A Mariniello, I De Bruyker, MS Pagadala, VR Dhere, S Rafiq, AH Kesarwala, A Orthwein, SN Thomas, SL Zhang, MK Khan, JB Dixon, GB Lesinski, MC Lowe, H Kissick, DS Yu, CM Paulos, NC Schmitt, ZS Buchwald | 04/14/2025 |
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Muc16CD is a novel CAR T cell target antigen for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Molecular therapy. Oncology |
HK Lin, DA Blake, T Liu, R Freeman, GB Lesinski, L Yang, S Rafiq | 12/19/2024 |
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TYRP1 directed CAR T cells control tumor progression in preclinical melanoma models. Molecular therapy. Oncology |
CS Hackett, D Hirschhorn, MS Tang, TJ Purdon, Y Marouf, A Piersigilli, NP Agaram, C Liu, SE Schad, E de Stanchina, S Rafiq, S Monette, JD Wolchok, T Merghoub, RJ Brentjens | 09/19/2024 |
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Advanced healthcare materials |
HK Lin, B Uricoli, R Freeman, AN Hossian, Z He, JYL Anderson, M Neffling, JM Legier, DA Blake, DB Doxie, R Nair, JL Koff, KM Dhodapkar, M Shanmugam, EC Dreaden, S Rafiq | 06/01/2024 |
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Research square |
Y Shen, E Connolly, M Aiello, C Zhou, P Chappa, H Song, P Tippitak, T Clark, M Cardenas, N Prokhnevska, A Mariniello, MS Pagadala, VR Dhere, S Rafiq, AH Kesarwala, A Orthwein, SN Thomas, MK Khan, J Brandon Dixon, GB Lesinski, MC Lowe, H Kissick, DS Yu, CM Paulos, NC Schmitt, ZS Buchwald | 03/06/2024 |
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Trans-vaccenic acid reprograms CD8+ T cells and anti-tumour immunity. Nature |
H Fan, S Xia, J Xiang, Y Li, MO Ross, SA Lim, F Yang, J Tu, L Xie, U Dougherty, FQ Zhang, Z Zheng, R Zhang, R Wu, L Dong, R Su, X Chen, T Althaus, PA Riedell, PB Jonker, A Muir, GB Lesinski, S Rafiq, MV Dhodapkar, W Stock, O Odenike, AA Patel, J Opferman, T Tsuji, J Matsuzaki, H Shah, B Faubert, SE Elf, B Layden, BM Bissonnette, YY He, J Kline, H Mao, K Odunsi, X Gao, H Chi, C He, J Chen | 11/01/2023 |
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Siglec-15 Promotes Evasion of Adaptive Immunity in B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Cancer research communications |
CE Pillsbury, J Dougan, JL Rabe, JA Fonseca, C Zhou, AN Evans, H Abukharma, O Ichoku, G Gonzalez-Flamenco, SI Park, A Aljudi, D DeRyckere, SM Castellino, S Rafiq, S Langermann, LN Liu, CJ Henry, CC Porter | 07/01/2023 |
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Multipurposing CARs: Same engine, different vehicles. Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy |
AKMN Hossian, CS Hackett, RJ Brentjens, S Rafiq | 04/06/2022 |
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Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T Cell Therapy for Glioblastoma. Cancer treatment and research |
A Verma, S Rafiq | 01/01/2022 |
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Supporting the Next Generation of Scientists to Lead Cancer Immunology Research. Cancer immunology research |
E Alspach, RD Chow, S Demehri, JL Guerriero, S Gujar, FJ Hartmann, BA Helmink, WH Hudson, WJ Ho, L Ma, BB Maier, VI Maltez, BC Miller, AE Moran, EM Parry, PS Pillai, S Rafiq, M Reina-Campos, PC Rosato, NP Rudqvist, MK Ruhland, I Sagiv-Barfi, AD Sahu, RM Samstein, CM Schürch, DR Sen, DS Thommen, Y Wolf, R Zappasodi | 11/01/2021 |
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Engineered Cytokines for Cancer and Autoimmune Disease Immunotherapy. Advanced healthcare materials |
B Uricoli, LA Birnbaum, P Do, JM Kelvin, J Jain, E Costanza, A Chyong, CC Porter, S Rafiq, EC Dreaden | 08/01/2021 |
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Using Adoptive Cellular Therapy for Localized Protein Secretion. Cancer journal (Sudbury, Mass.) |
AN Evans, HK Lin, AKMN Hossian, S Rafiq | 03/01/2021 |
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Nature communications |
M Song, OO Yeku, S Rafiq, T Purdon, X Dong, L Zhu, T Zhang, H Wang, Z Yu, J Mai, H Shen, B Nixon, M Li, RJ Brentjens, X Ma | 12/08/2020 |
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Excessive Costimulation Leads to Dysfunction of Adoptively Transferred T Cells. Cancer immunology research |
D Wijewarnasuriya, C Bebernitz, AV Lopez, S Rafiq, RJ Brentjens | 06/01/2020 |
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Optimization of T-cell Receptor-Modified T Cells for Cancer Therapy. Cancer immunology research |
DJ Drakes, S Rafiq, TJ Purdon, AV Lopez, SS Chandran, CA Klebanoff, RJ Brentjens | 06/01/2020 |
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Engineering strategies to overcome the current roadblocks in CAR T cell therapy. Nature reviews. Clinical oncology |
S Rafiq, CS Hackett, RJ Brentjens | 03/01/2020 |