Dr. Labanieh is an Assistant Professor in the Icahn Genomics Institute (IGI) and the Precision Immunology Institute (PrIISM) at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. As a bioengineer with expertise in synthetic biology, immunoengineering, and T-cell biology, Dr. Labanieh is developing next-generation high performance platform technologies to address the most pressing challenges for cell therapies for cancer. He developed SNIP-CAR, a drug-regulated CAR platform that enhances the safety and efficacy of CAR-T cells. The findings from his work credentialed this platform as best-in-class and laid the foundational preclinical studies to support a phase I clinical trial of the SNIP CAR platform in relapsed/refractory solid cancers at Stanford University School of Medicine. He has also developed technologies for drug-regulated control over cytokine signaling in engineered T-cells as well as a platform for purification of multi-engineered, sophisticated cell therapies. He has worked collaboratively to create logic-gated T-cells, injectable hydrogels for delivering cell therapies and cytokines, and technologies for imaging cell therapies in vivo. Dr. Labanieh is a co-inventor of 13 technologies spanning the fields of cell therapy, diagnostics, and high-throughput drug discovery. These technologies have been licensed to five biotechnology companies, including CARGO Therapeutics, a publicly traded and clinical stage CAR-T startup that Dr. Labanieh co-founded.

By working at the interface of synthetic biology, immunology, and cellular and genetic engineering, the Labanieh Lab will develop novel platform technologies for in vivo engineering and control of cell therapies. We aim to develop tools that allow for the precise genetic and functional manipulation of cells in vivo towards making safer and more effective therapies for cancer and beyond. We hope this work will help to establish a new paradigm for the deployment of broadly accessible cell and gene therapies.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR | Immunology & Immunotherapy