Dr. Hamid Bassiri

Dr. Hamid Bassiri
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, USA

Biography

Dr. Bassiri completed his Ph.D. in Immunology and his M.D. at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). He then pursued a residency in General Pediatrics and a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). He was appointed as an Assistant Professor at Penn in 2013, and now provides inpatient pediatric infectious disease consultations at CHOP and specializes in the care of immunocompromised children. Over the last several years, he has been studying the development and function of invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells. His laboratory is now involved in several research projects: 1) Delineating how iNKT cells mediate tumor immunosurveillance; 2) Developing novel cellular immunotherapies for cancer and infection; 3) Characterizing the cytokine release syndrome associated with T cell adoptive transfer immunotherapies; 4) Understanding the mechanisms of T cell exhaustion in chronic infections; 5) Examining the effects of polyamine depletion on the neuroblastoma tumor microenvironment.

Research Interest

Invariant natural killer T cell development and function, Cellular immunotherapy for cancer and infection, Mechanisms of T cell exhaustion, Role of polyamines in tumor growth