Taha Merghoub, Ph.D.
Deputy Director, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer CenterWeill Cornell Medicine
Dr. Taha Merghoub received a BA from the University of Algiers, Algeria, and MS and Ph.D. degrees with the highest distinction from the University of Paris, France. His thesis focused on studying genetic polymorphism in fetal hemoglobin gene in patients with sickle cell anemia and thalassemia. His findings provided insight into the correlation of genotypes and phenotypes in sickle cell anemia and thalassemia. After graduation, he pursued his postdoctoral research with Dr. Pier Paolo Pandolfi at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). He characterized the transcriptional properties of the ZBTB7 gene and its role during development. He also actively generated laboratory models for acute promyelocytic leukemia and furthered his knowledge and experience in genetics.
Dr. Merghoub subsequently joined the Alan Houghton Laboratory as a Senior Research Scientist, where he began to study tumor immunity. He developed mouse models of melanoma that mimic different stages of human disease clinically, pathologically, and genetically, later evaluating new immunotherapies at different stages of tumor progression. He then became an assistant attending biologist in the melanoma and sarcoma service and assumed the direction of a research laboratory in partnership with Dr. Wolchok. Next, he became an associate attending in the melanoma and immunotherapeutic service and then a full member of the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program department at MSK. He was also a Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy member researcher, leading the melanoma disease management team and the immunotherapeutic group tissue bank at MSK.
In September 2022, he was appointed to his current role at WCM, where he directs a translational tumor immunology laboratory. He is currently researching potential immune-based therapies to treat cancer. He is also studying the pathogenesis and treatment of melanoma and developing tools to study melanoma and immune responses in multiple cancers. His work is heavily collaborative within the institution and with multiple entities across different disciplines.
Dr. Merghoub's projects fall into four categories:
- Overcoming resistance to immune checkpoint blockade therapy by modulating the immune system
- Using the immune modulatory properties of modalities that target and kill tumor cells directly
- Defining biomarkers and genetic determinants of response to immune therapy
- Developing a tissue repository for the immunotherapy and melanoma groups
Dr. Merghoub subsequently joined the Alan Houghton Laboratory as a Senior Research Scientist, where he began to study tumor immunity. He developed mouse models of melanoma that mimic different stages of human disease clinically, pathologically, and genetically, later evaluating new immunotherapies at different stages of tumor progression. He then became an assistant attending biologist in the melanoma and sarcoma service and assumed the direction of a research laboratory in partnership with Dr. Wolchok. Next, he became an associate attending in the melanoma and immunotherapeutic service and then a full member of the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program department at MSK. He was also a Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy member researcher, leading the melanoma disease management team and the immunotherapeutic group tissue bank at MSK.
In September 2022, he was appointed to his current role at WCM, where he directs a translational tumor immunology laboratory. He is currently researching potential immune-based therapies to treat cancer. He is also studying the pathogenesis and treatment of melanoma and developing tools to study melanoma and immune responses in multiple cancers. His work is heavily collaborative within the institution and with multiple entities across different disciplines.
Dr. Merghoub's projects fall into four categories:
- Overcoming resistance to immune checkpoint blockade therapy by modulating the immune system
- Using the immune modulatory properties of modalities that target and kill tumor cells directly
- Defining biomarkers and genetic determinants of response to immune therapy
- Developing a tissue repository for the immunotherapy and melanoma groups