Dr. Maysaloun Merhi - Head, Flow Cytometry Core Facility
Dr. Maysaloun Merhi is the Head of the Flow Cytometry Core (FACs) at the TRI and a Research Scientist for the National Center for Cancer Care and Research (NCCCR). She also holds an Assistant Professor position at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Lebanese University in Beirut, Lebanon, since 2013.
Dr. Merhi graduated with a PhD from the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse, France in 2008. Dr. Merhi began her postdoctoral work in France in Genetic Toxicology at the Pasteur Institute in Lille (2010-2011). This was followed by a Research Associate position at the Cancer Research Center Nantes-Anger (2012). Dr. Merhi joined the medical oncology department at NCCCR in 2013 as a Clinical Scientist and Laboratory Manager and subsequently became a Research Scientist at the Translational Cancer Research Facility based at the TRI. Dr. Merhi is a Principal Investigator on several research projects that focus on the characterization of the immune response in cancer patients, on the identification of novel biomarkers of response and on the development of prominent immunotherapeutic strategies against different malignant diseases.
In March 2021, Dr. Merhi was appointed Head of the Flow Cytometry Core facility at the TRI. In addition, Dr. Merhi tutors and supervises MSc and PhD students from Qatar University and HBKU, whom she helps train in various scientific techniques and provides direct support during their research projects. She has authored numerous original research articles, reviews, abstracts, book chapters and is reviewer and editorial board member for several scientific journals and a university lecturer in Lebanon.
Select Publications:
Naїja A, Merhi M, Inchakalody V, Fernandes Q, Mestiri S, Prabhu KS, Uddin S, Dermime S. The role of PAK4 in the immune system and its potential implication in cancer immunotherapy. Cell Immunol. 2021 Sep;367:104408. doi: 10.1016/j.cellimm.2021.104408. Epub 2021 Jul 1.
Merhi M et al. Persistent anti-NY-ESO-1-specific T cells and expression of differential biomarkers in a patient with metastatic gastric cancer benefiting from combined radioimmunotherapy treatment: a case report. J Immunother Cancer. 2020 Sep;8(2):e001278. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2020-001278
Merhi M, Raza A, Inchakalody V, Zar AR, Uddin S, Dermime S. Immunotherapeutic strategies in patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Ann Transl Med. 2019 Mar;7(Suppl 1):S22. doi: 10.21037/atm.2019.01.72.
Merhi M et al. Squamous Cell Carcinomas of the Head and Neck Cancer Response to Programmed Cell Death Protein-1 Targeting and Differential Expression of Immunological Markers: A Case Report. Front Immunol. 2018 Jul 30;9:1769. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.01769. eCollection 2018.