Shahrzad Shirazi Fard
Affiliated to Research
E-mail: shahrzad.shirazi.fard@ki.se
Visiting address: Widerströmska huset, hiss 1, plan 8 Tomtebodavägen 18A, 17177 Stockholm
Postal address: K6 Kvinnors och barns hälsa, K6 Barnonkologi och Barnkirurgi Herold, 171 77 Stockholm
About me
- My research set out to investigate consequences of intra tumour cellular
heterogeneity for the progression into refractory disease, with the objective
to target residual disease and prevent metastasis
I obtained my PhD in 2014 from Uppsala University in developmental
neuroscience. In my PhD-thesis I demonstrated that subpopulations of neuronal
progenitor cells have innate properties that make them sensitive to tumor
development. This illustrates the importance of understanding the heterogenic
properties of developing tissues and relation to neoplastic formation.
Following my PhD, I started a dual Post doc training in the group of prof.
Lars Ährlund-Richter at Karolinska Institutet and in the group of Dr. Jan
Mulder at SciLifeLab Karolinska Institutet. The research focused on a novel
transplantation model for studying pediatric solid tumors together with a
novel MULTIPLEX technique for enhanced correlation analysis of multiple
cellular markers at the site of tumour metastasis. In September 2019 I
obtained an Assistant Professorship at Karolinska Institutet.
Research
- Our research aims to decipher the complicated spatial interplay between
tumour cells and the tumour microenvironment using MULTIPLEX genomic,
transcriptomic and proteomic profiles in order to investigate consequences of
tumour heterogeneity for the progression into refractory disease.
Neuroblastoma is the most common extra cranial solid tumor in pediatrics and
accounts for 15% of cancer related deaths in children. Even though the
overall survival has increased following implementation of novel
therapeutics - one third of high-risk patients will experience treatment
failure. An outcome most likely influenced by the tumour microenvironment.
Spatial multi-omics techniques enables better dissection of the tumour
microenvironment through investigation of the spatial architecture. A
combination of several novel multiparameter immunofluorescence analysis
techniques is being used on patient biopsies. The single-cell approach allows
us to investigate cell-cell interactions that might contributing to
resistance. This is combined by targeted treatment in matched in vivo cell
lines of neuroblastoma, in order to re-sensitize resistant tumour cells to
therapy. An enhanced understanding of the intra-tumour heterogeneity and
asynchronous therapy responsiveness are among the most important areas in
tumour research and our work is anticipated to produce novel biological
discoveries and encourage further development of therapies.
Teaching
- * Current teaching
2022 (Course Leader)* *KI PhD course* - *Translational Paediatric Oncology
in the Era of Immunotherapy and Omics
2021* *KI PhD course* - *Translational Paediatric Oncology in the Era of
Immunotherapy and Omics
2020-2021* *KI Biomedicine - Molecular Medicine & Oncology
2019-2020 KI Medicine program – DFM 1 course, course module Development –
from egg to embryo
* Supervisor
2021 - ongoing (Co-supervisor) Ioanna Tsea PhD-student
2022 Master thesis, Maja Lundström, MSc, KTH
2021 Master thesis, Mani Devaraj, MSc, KI
2021 Master thesis, Agnes Sorteberg, MSc, KTH
2021 Master thesis, Vesa Halipi, MSc, LTH
2020 Master thesis, Maryam Sahi, MSc, KTH
2020 Master thesis, Ximena Lopez Lorenzo, MSc, KTH
2019 Master thesis, Linnéa Ödborn Jönsson MSc, KTH
2018 Master thesis, Faye Keller MSc, Uppsala University
Articles
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Article: EJHAEM. 2023;4(1):115-124
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Article: CELL REPORTS MEDICINE. 2022;3(6):100657
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Article: FRONTIERS IN ONCOLOGY. 2022;12:906194
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Article: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES. 2021;22(7):3664
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Article: PLOS ONE. 2018;13(1):e0190970
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Article: JOVE-JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS. 2015;(103)
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Article: CELL DEATH DISCOVERY. 2015;1:15023
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Article: PLOS ONE. 2015;10(6):e0122061
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Article: CELL CYCLE. 2014;13(3):408-417
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Article: CELL CYCLE. 2014;13(23):3698-3706
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Article: JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR NEUROSCIENCE. 2013;51(2):615-628
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Article: PLOS ONE. 2013;8(3):e59133
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Article: DIFFERENTIATION. 2013;85(1-2):11-19
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Article: PLOS ONE. 2012;7(5):e36874
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Article: PLOS GENETICS. 2011;7(9):e1002285
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Article: AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-REGULATORY, INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY. 2010;299(2):R655-R663
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Article: PLOS ONE. 2010;5(3):e9647
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Article: IN VIVO. 2009;23(3):381-386
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Article: JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE. 2008;28(1):39-49
All other publications
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Review: FRONTIERS IN NEUROANATOMY. 2016;10:77
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Editorial comment: CELL DEATH & DISEASE. 2015;6(10):e1957
Employments
- Affiliated to Research, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, 2024-2025
- Assistant Professor, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, 2019-2024