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.
Area of Interest
1)Invariant natural killer T cell development and function
2)Cellular immunotherapy for cancer and infection
3)Mechanisms of T cell exhaustion
4)Role of polyamines in tumor growth.
top publication
1.Markmann J.F., Bassiri H., Barker C.F., Naji A. Effect of lymphokine-induced MHC antigen expression on islet allograft survival. Transplantation Proceedings 21 (1 Part 3):2723-4, 1989.
2. Markmann J.F., Schachner M.S., Bassiri H., Barker C.F., Naji A. The contribution of MHC antigen modulation to islet allograft rejection. Hormone & Metabolic Research - Supplement 25:104-8, 1990.
3. Markmann J.F., Posselt A.M., Bassiri H., Brayman K.L., Woehrle M., Hickey W.F., Silvers W.K.,Barker C.F., Naji A. Major-histocompatibility-complex restricted and nonrestricted autoimmune effector mechanisms in BB rats. Transplantation 52(4):662-7, 1991.
4. Shachner M.S., Markmann J.F., Bassiri H., Kim J.I., Naji A., Barker C.F. Direct assessment of the role of NK cells in autoimmune diabetes. Journal of Surgical Research 52(6):601-4, 1992.Hamid Bassiri, M.D., Ph.D. Page 4 of 6
5. Markmann J.F., Bassiri H., Desai N.M., Odorico J.S., Kim J.I., Koller B.H., Smithies O., Barker C.F. Indefinite survival of MHC class I-deficient murine pancreatic islet allografts. Transplantation 54(6):1085-9, 1992.
6. Bassiri H., Markmann J.F., Desai N.M., Kim J.I., Teh H.S., Barker C.F. Allograft rejection by Tcell receptor transgenic mice. Journal of Surgical Research 54(5):437-44, 1993. 7. Markmann J.F., Bassiri H., Desai N.M., Kim J.I., Odorico J.S., Barker C.F. Donor antigenspecific T-lymphocyte deletion after intrathymic inoculation. Transplantation Proceedings 25 (1Part 1):305-6, 1993.
8. Desai N.M., Bassiri H., Odorico J.S., Koller B.H., Smithies O., Naji A., Barker C.F., Markmann J.F. Pancreatic islet allograft and xenograft survival in CD8+ T-lymphocyte-deficient recipients. Transplantation Proceedings 25 (1 Part 2):961-2, 1993.
9. Desai N.M., Bassiri H., Kim J.I., Koller B.H., Smithies O., Barker C.F., Naji A., Markmann J.F. Islet allograft, islet xenograft, and skin allograft survival in CD8+ T lymphocyte-deficient mice.Transplantation 55(4):718-22, 1993.
10. Markmann J.F., Odorico J.S., Bassiri H., Desai N.M., Kim J.I., Barker C.F. Deletion of donorreactive T lymphocytes in adult mice after intrathymic inoculation with lymphoid cells. Transplantation 55(4):871-6; discussion 876-7, 1993.
11. Markmann J.F., Desai N.M., Bassiri H., Kim J.I., Barker C.F. Prolonged survival of class I deficient mouse islet allografts but not xenografts. Transplantation Proceedings 26(2):748-9, 1994.
12. Bhandoola A., Bassiri H., Markmann J.F., Yui K., Hashimoto Y., Greene M.I. Delayed allograft rejection by T cell receptor V beta 8.1 transgenic mice peripherally tolerized to Mls-1. European Journal of Immunology 24(7):1710-3, 1994.
13. Markmann J.F., Campos L., Bhandoola A., Kim J.I., Desai N.M., Bassiri H., Claytor B.R., Barker C.F. Genetically engineered grafts to study xenoimmunity: a role for indirect antigen presentation in the destruction of major histocompatibility complex antigen deficient xenografts. Surgery 116(2):242-8; discussion 248-9, 1994.
14. Bhandoola A., Markmann J.F., Son C.B., Bassiri H., Yui K., Greene M.I. Defective allograft rejection in TcR Vbeta8.1 transgenic mice provides an explanation for improvement of lymphadenopathy in TcR transgenic gld and lpr mice. Transgenics 1(5), 1995.
15. Samoilova E.B., Horton J.L., Bassiri H., Zhang H., Linsley P.S., Carding S.R., Chen Y. B7blockade prevents activation-induced cell death of thymocytes. International Immunology 9(11):1663-8, 1997.
16. Contractor N.V.#, Bassiri H.#, Reya T., Park A.Y., Baumgart D.C., Wasik M.A., Emerson S.G.,Carding S.R. Lymphoid hyperplasia, autoimmunity, and compromised intestinal intraepithelial lymphocyte development in colitis-free gnotobiotic IL-2-deficient mice. Journal of Immunology 160(1):385-94, 1998. #Shared first authorship.
17. Li B., Bassiri H., Rossman M.D., Kramer P., Eyuboglu A.F., Torres M., Sada E., Imir T., Carding S.R. Involvement of the Fas/Fas ligand pathway in activation-induced cell death of mycobacteriareactive human gamma delta T cells: a mechanism for the loss of gamma delta T cells in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Journal of Immunology 161(3):1558-67, 1998.
18. Reya T.#, Bassiri H.#, Biancaniello R., Carding S.R. Thymic stromal-cell abnormalities and dysregulated T-cell development in IL-2-deficient mice. Developmental Immunology 5(4):287-302, 1998. #Shared first authorship.
19. Bassiri H., Carding S.R. A requirement for IL-2/IL-2 receptor signaling in intrathymic negative selection. Journal of Immunology 166(10):5945-54, 2001.
20. Nunez-Cruz S., Yeo W.C., Rothman J., Ojha P., Bassiri H., Juntilla M., Davidson D., Veillette A.,Koretzky G.A., Nichols K.E. Differential requirement for the Sap-Fyn interaction during NK T cell development and function. Journal of Immunology 181(4):2311-20, 2008
. 21. Cen O., Ueda A., Guzman L., Jain J., Bassiri H., Nichols K.E., Stein P.L. The adaptor molecule signaling lymphocytic activation molecule-associated protein regulates IFN-gamma and IL-4 Hamid Bassiri, M.D., Ph.D. Page 5 of 6 production in Valpha 14 transgenic NKT cells via effects on GATA-3 and T-bet expression.Journal of Immunology 182(3):1370-8, 2009.
22. May, R.M., Okamura, M., Hsu, C-J., Bassiri, H., Yang, E., Rak, G., Mace, E.M., Baumgart, T., Orange, J.S., Nichols, K.E., Kambayashi, T. Murine natural killer immunoreceptors use distinct proximal signaling complexes to direct cell function. Blood 121(16):3135-46, 2013.
23. Das, R., Bassiri, H., Guan, P., Wiener, S.J., Banerjee, P.P., Zhong, M-C. Veillette, A., Orange, J.S., Nichols, K.E. The adaptor molecule SAP plays essential roles during invariant NKT cell cytotoxicity and lytic synapse formation. Blood 121(17):3386-95, 2013.
24. Bassiri H., Das, R., Guan P., Barrett D.M., Brennan P. J., Banerjee P., Wiener S.J., Orange J.S.,Brenner M.B., Grupp S.A., Nichols K.E.: iNKT cell cytotoxic responses control T-lymphoma growth in vitro and in vivo. Cancer Immunology Research 2 (1):59-69, 2014.
25. Bassiri H., Benavides A.D., Haber M., Gilmour S.K., Norris M.D., Hogarty M.D. Translational development of DFMO for the treatment of neuroblastoma. Translational Pediatrics (in press) 2015.
Awards
1989 & 1990 Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Student Fellowship Award
1993 National Science Foundation Fellowship Honorable Mention
2002 Mary Ellis Bell Prize; University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
2006 Teddy Bedrosian Compassionate Care Award; Children\'s Hospital of Philadelphia
2007 Senior Resident Clinician of the Year; Children\'s Hospital of Philadelphia
2009 Clinical Immunology Society/Talecris Fellowship Award
2009 Clinical Immunology Society/Talecris Senior Fellow Award
2010 Children\'s Hospital of Philadelphia Poster Day Award
2009, 2011, 2013 NIH Loan Repayment Program Award
2014 Young Faculty Investigator Award Finalist – Eastern Society for Pediatric Research