SUMMARY
Mehrdad Hefazi Torghabeh, M.D., focuses his research on myeloid malignancies and hematopoietic cell therapies, with particular emphasis on allogeneic stem cell transplantation, graft‑versus‑host disease and regulatory T-cell-based treatments. As a physician‑scientist with expertise in genetic engineering and adoptive cell therapy, Dr. Hefazi Torghabeh leads translational research aimed at improving transplant outcomes through the genetic modification of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and the development of mesenchymal stem cell therapies. He also is involved in bone marrow transplant outcomes research and early‑phase clinical trials for myeloid malignancies, including acute leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.
Focus areas
- Novel Treg-based therapies. Dr. Hefazi's laboratory-based research concentrates on the development of novel Treg therapies for people undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation. He investigates several strategies, including the genetic engineering of Tregs to enhance their potency and specificity for graft‑versus‑host disease.
- Mesenchymal stem cell therapies for graft‑versus‑host disease. Dr. Hefazi directs translational and investigational new drug-enabling research focused on developing chimeric antigen receptor-engineered mesenchymal stem cell therapies for the prevention and treatment of graft‑versus‑host disease. He is advancing these platforms toward early‑phase clinical trials.
- Bone marrow transplant outcomes and chronic graft‑versus‑host disease. Dr. Hefazi leads research on bone marrow transplant outcomes, with a particular focus on chronic graft‑versus‑host disease. His work aims to better balance the risks of relapse and graft‑versus‑host disease while improving long‑term outcomes for transplant recipients.
Focus areas
Dr. Hefazi aims to create safer, more precise therapies to prevent and treat graft-versus-host disease. This is a serious complication that can occur after a stem cell transplant and affects many people. Current immunosuppressive treatments can help reduce graft‑versus‑host disease, but they also weaken the immune system. This can make infections more likely and reduce the transplant recipient's ability to fight leukemia.
Early studies using regulatory T-cell (Treg) therapies have shown these cells can calm the immune system safely, but the treatments don't always reach the right tissues or stay stable in the body. To improve this, Dr. Hefazi is developing specially engineered Tregs that can find the exact areas where graft‑versus‑host disease starts and act only where they are needed. This approach aims to protect people from graft‑versus‑host disease while keeping the rest of the immune system strong. In the future, this type of targeted cell therapy also may help in other areas of regenerative medicine and stem cell transplantation.