Nour Shobaki, PharmD, PhD

Dr. Shobaki is Director of Research of The Shobaki Lab (also known as the BRITE Lab, Bispecific Release by Immune T Cells for Engagement) at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Cellular Immunotherapies. She holds a PharmD in Clinical Pharmacy from An-Najah National University and an MS and PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Hokkaido University, Japan, where she published her work on siRNA-loaded lipid nanoparticles targeting the tumor microenvironment in the Journal of Controlled Release and the International Journal of Nanomedicine. She completed postdoctoral training in immuno-oncology at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and Georgetown University, and later served as an immunologist at Universal Cells/Astellas, before joining Dr. Carl June's laboratory in 2023, where her work has since been published in journals including Nature Immunology, Molecular Therapy, and Cancer Immunology Research.

Dr. Shobaki now leads a translational research team developing an "all-in-one" armored CAR–bispecific platform for advanced prostate cancer, combining tumor-targeted CAR T cells with locally secreted bispecific T-cell engagers and immune-resistance armor to overcome tumor antigen heterogeneity, an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, and on-target/off-tumor toxicity. The platform is currently advancing toward a first-in-human clinical trial at Penn.

Dr. Shobaki is the recipient of the Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award, and the Mark L. Tykocinski Award from Penn's Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine for excellence in translational research, among other honors. She is active in the prostate cancer research community and mentors a growing team of postdoctoral fellows, technicians, and students.