Name: Saman Maleki, PhD
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Maleki |
Title: Research Associate
Employer: Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
When and why did you become a SITC member?
I become a SITC member last year after I found out about all
the great educational work SITC has been doing on the field of cancer
immunotherapy.
Can you briefly explain the work you are doing in the field?
I am involved in several translational immunotherapy
projects. We are studying the neoantigens in tumors and how it shapes the
anti-tumor immune response. We are also studying indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase
(IDO) and its effect on immunotherapy and conventional therapy. I am also
involved in pre-clinical IND-enabling studies of several novel oncology drugs
including a few immuno-oncology agents.
Who or what inspired you to choose this specific career path?
I wanted to study cancer from a young age when I lost my
grandmother to cancer. I also became fascinated with the immune system when I
studied immunology at the university. Throughout the years, I developed this
philosophy that the only way to destroy an ever-evolving disease is with a
weapon that has the capacity to evolve as well, and that weapon is the immune
system. In 2008, just after starting my PhD, I met Dr. Harald zur Hausen (Noble
Laureate) who gave me a great piece of advice about cancer: He suggested that
to understand cancer and do something about it, I needed to understand more
than one area of science since cancer is a complex disease. So, I studied both
tumor immunology and cancer biology to not only understand the weapon but also
the enemy.
What are some of the biggest challenges you are facing in the field?
As a translational scientist, I need to work closely with my
clinical colleagues. Getting access to clinical samples, data, and designing
clinical studies based on pre-clinical studies is by far the biggest hurdle
that I am facing as a scientist and I am certain that I am not alone in that.
We need to have a better system in place that facilitates scientists access to
clinical information and samples. I believe to make progress in this field and
any other biomedical field, we need to give scientific research as much
priority as treating patients. That is the only way, we can guarantee helping
more patients in the future.
What topic(s) do you plan to write about for The Sentinel, SITC’s new blog?
As a tumor immunologist, I would like to write about the
fascinating progress and discoveries that we are making in this field. Also the
challenges that we are facing as a field.
What do you hope readers will gain from this new blog?
Awareness about the hurdles facing the field and learning
about how immunotherapy works and its potential in treating difficult-to-treat
cancers.
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