Immunotherapy is a revolutionary new biological therapy that enables the body’s immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells effectively. Immunotherapy has already shown promising results in a number of different cancers and is currently the most researched area in the field of cancer therapeutics.
As part of the ‘Toolbox for Success’ series designed by the School of Pharmacy, BRAC University, a seminar on 'Immunotherapy: A prospective therapeutic potential against cancer, autoimmune and infectious diseases' was organized on November 22, 2022 to provide the students with an insight on current immunotherapeutic approaches to treat hematologic and non-hematologic cancers.
The distinguished speaker of the seminar was Dr. Mohammad Sohrab Hossain, Director of Emory Integrated Biorepository Core and an adjunct Assistant Professor of the Department of Haematology and Medical Oncology of the School of Medicine, Emory University. Dr. Hossain obtained his PhD degree in Immunology from the Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, Japan in 1999 and completed both his Bachelor of Pharmacy and Master of Pharmacy from the Department of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka. He worked at Caprico Biotechnologies Inc. as a senior scientist in 2014 and later became the Head of the Analytical Department of Caprico Biotechnologies Inc., where he served from 2015 to 2021. His research interests include hematology and medical oncology. He is currently supervising research projects on cancer and COVID and also investigating several clinical research projects related to immunotherapy. Dr. Sohrab’s research has yielded more than 30 scientific publications in international peer reviewed journals. He is a distinguished fellow with extensive research history, and is recognized for his work in immunology and cancer.
During the seminar, the speaker focused on the most recent FDA-approved immunotherapies, especially the CAR T-cells and the checkpoint molecules used against hematologic and non-hematologic malignancies. Furthermore, the possible causes of cancer development were described along with the standard immunological methods used to investigate the efficacy of immunotherapy in basic preclinical and clinical research settings by drawing examples from the latest immunotherapy research being carried out at the Stem Cell Research Lab at Emory University.
The seminar was moderated by Ms. Farzana Islam, Lecturer, School of Pharmacy, BRAC University. Faculty members, Teaching Assistants and students of the School of Pharmacy attended the seminar.