Ofrat Beyar-Katz, MD/PhD, Medical Hematologist

Dr. Ofrat Beyar-Katz is director of the Cellular Immunotherapy Unit, in the Institute of Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, an associate member of the Clinical Research Institute at Rambam (CRIR), and the principal investigator of the hospital’s Center for Cellular Immunotherapy.

With a background in cellular immunotherapy, particularly focusing on CAR-T cell therapy for hematological malignancies, Dr. Beyar-Katz’s career trajectory is aimed at developing novel CAR-T products. During her Ph.D. research she began exploring the immune microenvironment in cancer. This inspired her to pursue post-doctoral training at UPenn, where she broadened her knowledge and research experience in CAR-T immunotherapy.
The Center for Cellular Immunotherapy laboratory is focusing on several projects including:

• Development of innovative CAR-T cell drugs capable of detecting two antigens on the tumor cell surface (instead of one)
• Boosting CAR-T cell activity by enhancing the expression and secretion of various T-cell cytokines
• Applying gene-editing CRISPR to insert, delete, or replace specific genes