Center for Stem Cell and Translational Immunotherapy: cell-based immunotherapy at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute
We engineer living cells into therapies for the cancers that current treatments fail: primary brain tumors, and tumors that have spread to the brain.
- Gene-edited and engineered stem cell platform drives immunotherapy for brain metastatic melanomas
Science Translational Medicine, 2023 - Bifunctional cancer cell–based vaccine concomitantly drives direct tumor killing and antitumor immunity
Science Translational Medicine, 2023 - Treating cancer with re-purposed cancer cells
TEDxBoston talk by Dr. Khalid Shah - Overcoming functional and translational challenges of cellular immunotherapies for solid tumors
Cancer Cell, 2026 - An inducible RIPK3-driven necroptotic system enhances cancer cell-based immunotherapy and ensures safety
The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2024 - Anti-tumor immunity mediated by engineered allogeneic stem cells exploiting TRAIL-induced cell death and FLT3L immunomodulation
Clinical Cancer Research, 2025
About Us
CSTI develops cell-based immunotherapies for cancers that current treatments fail. Rather than delivering a drug to a tumor from outside, we engineer living cells to do the work: stem cells that home to tumor sites and release therapy where it is needed, oncolytic viruses that kill tumor cells and expose them to the immune system, and cancer cells repurposed into vaccines that attack the tumor they came from. Much of this work is aimed at the brain: glioblastoma, and metastases from melanoma, breast and lung cancer.
The centre is directed by Dr. Khalid Shah, MS, PhD, Professor at Harvard Medical School and Principal Faculty at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. The work spans gene editing, cell engineering, tumor immunology and imaging, and runs from mechanism through preclinical models toward the clinic. Findings from the laboratory have appeared in Science Translational Medicine, Nature Neuroscience, Cancer Cell, PNAS and Nature Reviews Cancer, and have been covered by the BBC, CNN, The New York Times and NPR.
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Papers
161
Alumni
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Nationalities
The Latest News
- Using gene-edited stem cells and oncolytic viruses to treat lung cancer brain metastases
JNCCN360, 2025 - New dual stem cell therapy developed to treat brain metastasis in non‑small cell lung cancer
Medical Xpress, 2025 - Un enfoque dual para el cáncer: seguridad y respuesta inmunitaria mejoradas con RIPK3
Gaceta Médica, 2025 - To combat cancer treatment resistance, researchers try leveraging evolution
National Cancer Institute, 2024 - Meet the Faculty: Dr. Khalid Shah
SACT / TMC, 2024
Work with us
We collaborate with clinicians and scientists around the world, train scientists at every career stage, and rely on philanthropy to carry discoveries toward patients.