Rafet Basar

Rafet Basar is a Senior Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. His research focuses on cancer immunotherapy, specifically the engineering of natural killer (NK) cells and cellular therapy for hematologic and solid malignancies. His latest work introduces next-generation platforms, including CD70-targeting CAR NK cells to overcome BCMA downregulation in high-risk multiple myeloma, uPAR-targeting CAR-NK cells for acute myeloid leukemia, and metabolically supercharged NK cells engineered with adenoviral E4ORF-1. He also develops IL-21-enhanced NK cells with improved mitochondrial fitness against glioblastoma stem cells, and TANKeR-70, a TGF-β-receptor type 2 knockout allogeneic NK cell therapy for CD70-expressing renal cell carcinoma. His research advances NK-cell therapeutic potential through universal multi-receptor platforms and synergistic antibody combinations.