Rufiaat Rashid

  • 2nd Year GS

Why did you choose the University of Pittsburgh?

I chose Pitt because of the collaborative nature of the labs, its interdisciplinary training, and the distinguished faculty mentors. I was excited to work in a place that puts so much emphasis on tumor immunology and translational research. I also enjoy the charming community of Pittsburgh!

Education & Training

  • BS in Biochemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), 2017
  • MS in Biotechnology, Johns Hopkins University, 2020

Research Interests

Cancer immunology, immunotherapy, adaptive immune system

Publications

Dykema A., Zhang B., Woldemeskel B., Garliss C., Rashid R., Westlake T., Zhang L., Zhang J., Cheung L., Caushi J., Pardoll D., Cox A., Ji H., Smith K., Blankson J. (2022). SARS-CoV-2 vaccination diversifies the CD4+ spike-reactive T cell repertoire in patients with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. EBioMedicine, (80) 1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104048.


Osipov, A., Blair, A. B., Liberto, J., Wang, J., Li, K., Herbst, B., Xu, Y., Li, S., Niu, N., Rashid, R., Ding, D., Liu, Y., Wang, Z., Wolfgang, C. L., Burkhart, R. A., Laheru, D., & Zheng, L. (2021). Inhibition of focal adhesion kinase enhances antitumor response of radiation therapy in pancreatic cancer through CD8+ T cells. Cancer biology & medicine, 18(1), 206–214. https://doi.org/10.20892/j.issn.2095-3941.2020.0273


Dykema, A. G., Zhang, B., Woldemeskel, B. A., Garliss, C. C., Cheung, L. S., Choudhury, D., Zhang, J., Aparicio, L., Bom, S., Rashid, R., Caushi, J. X., Hsiue, E. H., Cascino, K., Thompson, E. A., Kwaa, A. K., Singh, D., Thapa, S., Ordonez, A. A., Pekosz, A., D'Alessio, F. R., … Smith, K. N. (2021). Functional characterization of CD4+ T cell receptors crossreactive for SARS-CoV-2 and endemic coronaviruses. The Journal of clinical investigation, 131(10), e146922. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI146922