Lab Members

Staff Researchers

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  Shuai Ye, MD, PhD

  Lab Manager
  
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  Shuai Ye, MD, PhD

  Lab Manager
  

  Focus: Investigating viral pathways in non-activated T cells

  Dr. Shuai Ye has authored in numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts dedicated to the development of cancer targeting treatments. She brings her expertise and is now working to unravel the viral pathways in non-activated T cells to safely bring 1-day CAR T cells from the bench to bedside. 

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  Chelsea Yang

  Research Specialist
  
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  Chelsea Yang

  Research Specialist
  

  Focus: Developing technical tools

  Chelsea joined the lab in October 2025 after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences and Psychology. She previously interned in the lab and now focuses on developing technical tools for CAR-T advancement.

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Post Doctoral Fellows

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  Sang-Hoon Kim, PhD

  Post Doctoral Fellow
  
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  Sang-Hoon Kim, PhD

  Post Doctoral Fellow
  

  Focus: Develop novel strategy for CAR-T immunotherapy

  Sang-Hoon joined the Ghassemi Lab as a postdoctoral researcher in 2025. He earned his PhD from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), where his research focused on T cell immunology and cell therapy. In the Ghassemi Lab, Sang-Hoon aims to develop novel immunotherapeutic strategies using CAR-T cells and to investigate the fundamental mechanisms underlying immune synapse formation in CAR-T cells. Outside the lab, he enjoys spending time with his family.

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Trainees

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  Xiangyi Fang

  PhD Candidate (BE)
  
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  Xiangyi Fang

  PhD Candidate (BE)
  

  Co-Advised with Roddy S O'Connor, PhD

  Muriel Joan Drew Hege Fund Award Recipient for Women in Cellular Immunotherapy Research

  Focus: 

  Xiangyi Fang has ...

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  Shin Seo

  PhD Student (BE)
  
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  Shin Seo

  PhD Student (BE)
  

  shinseo [at] seas.upenn.edu

  Kron Cell & Gene Therapy Fellow

  Focus: RNA approaches to engineer non-activated CAR T cells

  Shin is currently a 2nd year PhD student in the Department of Bioengineering. Prior to the Ghassemi Lab, Shin has worked as a researcher at MSKCC developing radioimmunotherapies against solid tumors and at Takeda Pharmaceuticals developing high-throughput methods to evaluate CAR designs for gamma delta CAR T and cord blood CAR NK cells. Now as a graduate student at Penn, he is working collaboratively across disciplines to engineer resting T cells ex vivo and in vivo.

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