Photo of Mohammad Rashidian, PhD

Mohammad Rashidian, PhD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Phone: (857) 215-5591


mohammad_rashidian@dfci.harvard.edu

Photo of Mohammad Rashidian, PhD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Phone: (857) 215-5591


mohammad_rashidian@dfci.harvard.edu

Visualize Collaborations

Mohammad Rashidian, PhD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

EDUCATIONAL TITLES

  • Assistant Professor, Radiology, Harvard Medical School
  • Member of the Faculty, Imaging, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

HCC PROGRAM AFFILIATION

Research Abstract

Our lab is focused on understanding the underlying mechanisms of how the tumor microenvironment is shaped and is changed in response to cancer immunotherapies. Furthermore, the lab aims to develop new and improved diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic tools to detect, diagnose, treat, and prevent cancer. Our research aims are fourfold: (1) to develop methods for non-invasive monitoring of immune responses; (2) to design and engineer novel CAR T cells; (3) to investigate changes in the tumor microenvironment (TME) in response to treatment; and (4) to explore how to reshape the TME to a more pronounced anti-tumor status and develop tools to realize this possibility. In the long term, our goals are to help better understand the dynamics of immune responses, to investigate what is behind the heterogeneous response to cancer immunotherapy, and to help understand what causes an immunosuppressive or an anti-tumor TME. These are essential for developing more effective therapies, more effective methods for early detection of cancer, and new prognostic modalities.

Publications from Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Powered by Harvard Catalyst
  • Cong M, Tavakolpour S, Berland L, Glöckner H, Andreiuk B, Rakhshandehroo T, Uslu S, Mishra S, Clark L, Rashidian M. Direct N- or C-Terminal Protein Labeling Via a Sortase-Mediated Swapping Approach. Bioconjug Chem 2021; 32:2397-2406. PubMed
  • Teunissen AJP, Abousaway OB, Munitz J, van Leent MMT, Toner YC, Priem B, Senders ML, Pérez-Medina C, Mulder WJM, Rashidian M. Employing nanobodies for immune landscape profiling by PET imaging in mice. STAR Protoc 2021; 2:100434. PubMed
  • Berland L, Kim L, Abousaway O, Mines A, Mishra S, Clark L, Hofman P, Rashidian M. Nanobodies for Medical Imaging: About Ready for Prime Time? Biomolecules 2021. PubMed
  • Islam A, Pishesha N, Harmand TJ, Heston H, Woodham AW, Cheloha RW, Bousbaine D, Rashidian M, Ploegh HL. Converting an Anti-Mouse CD4 Monoclonal Antibody into an scFv Positron Emission Tomography Imaging Agent for Longitudinal Monitoring of CD4 T Cells. J Immunol 2021; 207:1468-1477. PubMed
  • Abousaway O, Rakhshandehroo T, Van den Abbeele AD, Kircher MF, Rashidian M. Noninvasive Imaging of Cancer Immunotherapy. Nanotheranostics 2021; 5:90-112. PubMed
  • Dongre A, Rashidian M, Eaton EN, Reinhardt F, Thiru P, Zagorulya M, Nepal S, Banaz T, Martner A, Spranger S, Weinberg RA. Direct and Indirect Regulators of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT)-mediated Immunosuppression in Breast Carcinomas. 2020. PubMed
  • Priem B, van Leent MMT, Teunissen AJP, Sofias AM, Mourits VP, Willemsen L, Klein ED, Oosterwijk RS, Meerwaldt AE, Munitz J, Prévot G, Vera Verschuur A, Nauta SA, van Leeuwen EM, Fisher EL, de Jong KAM, Zhao Y, Toner YC, Soultanidis G, Calcagno C, Bomans PHH, Friedrich H, Sommerdijk N, Reiner T, Duivenvoorden R, Zupančič E, Di Martino JS, Kluza E, Rashidian M, Ploegh HL, Dijkhuizen RM, Hak S, Pérez-Medina C, Bravo-Cordero JJ, de Winther MPJ, Joosten LAB, van Elsas A, Fayad ZA, Rialdi A, Torre D, Guccione E, Ochando J, Netea MG, Griffioen AW, Mulder WJM. Trained Immunity-Promoting Nanobiologic Therapy Suppresses Tumor Growth and Potentiates Checkpoint Inhibition. Cell 2020; 183:786-801.e19. PubMed
  • Woodham AW, Zeigler SH, Zeyang EL, Kolifrath SC, Cheloha RW, Rashidian M, Chaparro RJ, Seidel RD, Garforth SJ, Dearling JL, Mesyngier M, Duddempudi PK, Packard AB, Almo SC, Ploegh HL. In vivo detection of antigen-specific CD8 T cells by immuno-positron emission tomography. Nat Methods 2020. PubMed
  • Rashidian M, LaFleur MW, Verschoor VL, Dongre A, Zhang Y, Nguyen TH, Kolifrath S, Aref AR, Lau CJ, Paweletz CP, Bu X, Freeman GJ, Barrasa MI, Weinberg RA, Sharpe AH, Ploegh HL. Immuno-PET identifies the myeloid compartment as a key contributor to the outcome of the antitumor response under PD-1 blockade. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:16971-16980. PubMed
  • Jailkhani N, Ingram JR, Rashidian M, Rickelt S, Tian C, Mak H, Jiang Z, Ploegh HL, Hynes RO. Noninvasive imaging of tumor progression, metastasis, and fibrosis using a nanobody targeting the extracellular matrix. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:14181-14190. PubMed
  • Dougan M, Ingram JR, Jeong HJ, Mosaheb MM, Bruck PT, Ali L, Pishesha N, Blomberg O, Tyler PM, Servos MM, Rashidian M, Nguyen QD, von Andrian UH, Ploegh HL, Dougan SK. Targeting Cytokine Therapy to the Pancreatic Tumor Microenvironment Using PD-L1-Specific VHHs. Cancer Immunol Res 2018; 6:389-401. PubMed
  • Ingram JR, Blomberg OS, Rashidian M, Ali L, Garforth S, Fedorov E, Fedorov AA, Bonanno JB, Le Gall C, Crowley S, Espinosa C, Biary T, Keliher EJ, Weissleder R, Almo SC, Dougan SK, Ploegh HL, Dougan M. Anti-CTLA-4 therapy requires an Fc domain for efficacy. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018. PubMed
  • Woodham AW, Cheloha RW, Ling J, Rashidian M, Kolifrath SC, Mesyngier M, Duarte JN, Bader JM, Skeate JG, Da Silva DM, Kast WM, Ploegh HL. Nanobody-Antigen Conjugates Elicit HPV-Specific Antitumor Immune Responses. Cancer Immunol Res 2018; 6:870-880. PubMed
  • Ingram JR, Dougan M, Rashidian M, Knoll M, Keliher EJ, Garrett S, Garforth S, Blomberg OS, Espinosa C, Bhan A, Almo SC, Weissleder R, Lodish H, Dougan SK, Ploegh HL. PD-L1 is an activation-independent marker of brown adipocytes. Nat Commun 2017; 8:647. PubMed
  • Rashidian M, Ingram JR, Dougan M, Dongre A, Whang KA, LeGall C, Cragnolini JJ, Bierie B, Gostissa M, Gorman J, Grotenbreg GM, Bhan A, Weinberg RA, Ploegh HL. Predicting the response to CTLA-4 blockade by longitudinal noninvasive monitoring of CD8 T cells. J Exp Med 2017; 214:2243-2255. PubMed
  • Van Elssen CH, Rashidian M, Vrbanac V, Wucherpfennig KW, El Habre Z, Sticht J, Freund C, Jacobsen J, Cragnolini J, Ingram J, Plaisier L, Spierings E, Tager AM, Ploegh H. Noninvasive imaging of human immune responses in a human xenograft model of graft-versus-host disease. J Nucl Med 2017. PubMed
  • Dongre A, Rashidian M, Reinhardt F, Bagnato A, Keckesova Z, Ploegh HL, Weinberg RA. Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition Contributes to Immunosuppression in Breast Carcinomas. Cancer Res 2017; 77:3982-3989. PubMed
  • Rashidian M, Wang L, Edens JG, Jacobsen JT, Hossain I, Wang Q, Victora GD, Vasdev N, Ploegh H, Liang SH. Enzyme-Mediated Modification of Single-Domain Antibodies for Imaging Modalities with Different Characteristics. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2016; 55:528-533. PubMed
  • Rashidian M, Keliher E, Dougan M, Juras PK, Cavallari M, Wojtkiewicz GR, Jacobsen J, Edens JG, Tas JM, Victora G, Weissleder R, Ploegh H. The use of F-2-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) to label antibody fragments for immuno-PET of pancreatic cancer. ACS Cent Sci 2015; 1:142-147. PubMed
  • Rashidian M, Keliher EJ, Bilate AM, Duarte JN, Wojtkiewicz GR, Jacobsen JT, Cragnolini J, Swee LK, Victora GD, Weissleder R, Ploegh HL. Noninvasive imaging of immune responses. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2015; 112:6146-51. PubMed
  • Rashidian M, Kumarapperuma SC, Gabrielse K, Fegan A, Wagner CR, Distefano MD. Simultaneous dual protein labeling using a triorthogonal reagent. J Am Chem Soc 2013; 135:16388-96. PubMed
  • Rashidian M, Dozier JK, Distefano MD. Enzymatic labeling of proteins: techniques and approaches. Bioconjug Chem 2013; 24:1277-94. PubMed
  • Rashidian M, Mahmoodi MM, Shah R, Dozier JK, Wagner CR, Distefano MD. A highly efficient catalyst for oxime ligation and hydrazone-oxime exchange suitable for bioconjugation. Bioconjug Chem 2013; 24:333-42. PubMed
  • Rashidian M, Song JM, Pricer RE, Distefano MD. Chemoenzymatic reversible immobilization and labeling of proteins without prior purification. J Am Chem Soc 2012; 134:8455-67. PubMed
  • Rashidian M, Dozier JK, Lenevich S, Distefano MD. Selective labeling of polypeptides using protein farnesyltransferase via rapid oxime ligation. Chem Commun (Camb) 2010; 46:8998-9000. PubMed
Hide
Visualize Collaborations