Education

• 2005: Bachelor of Science, Al-Azhar University, Egypt
• 2010: M.Sc. Natural Product Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Egypt
• 2015-2016: Admitted to the Lab of Nano-Biotechnology, Okayama University; Supervisor Professor Masaharu Seno (JASSO Honors Scholarship)
• 2017: Ph.D. Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Egypt

Professional Experience

• 2017–2018: Research Fellow, Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Okayama University
• 2018–2022: Researcher (Special Contract Personnel), Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama University
• 2022–2024: Assistant Professor (Special Contract Personnel), Research Core for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Okayama University
• 2024~: Program Specific Assistant Professor, Division of Cancer Immunotherapy, Center for Cancer Immunotherapy and Immunobiology (CCII)

Research Focus

The abundance of immunosuppressive cells, such as tumor-associated macrophages, cancer-associated fibroblasts, regulatory T cells, and myeloid-derived suppressor cells in the tumor microenvironment, plays a crucial role in cancer progression, metastasis, and resistance to immune therapy. During cancer progression, the functions of CD8+cytotoxic T lymphocytes become impaired and exhausted due to immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment.

Our research goal is to develop a meaningful platform that enhances the efficacy of immunotherapies and reshapes the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. However, synergizing checkpoint responses across various cancer types remains a significant challenge.

At the Division of Cancer Immunotherapy, our mission is to develop novel strategies that reverse T cell exhaustion and enhance the efficacy of PD-1 in clinical applications, ultimately improving patient response and outcomes.

Selected Publications

Said M. Afify, Ghmkin Hassan, Maram H Zahra, Hend M. Nawara, Hagar A Abu Quora, Amira Osman, Hager Monsour, Kazuki Kumon, Akimasa Seno, Ling Chen, Ayano Satoh, David S Salomon, Masaharu Seno. Cancer stem cells as the source of tumor associated myoepithelial cells in the tumor microenvironment developing ductal carcinoma in situ. Biomaterials. 2023 Oct; 301:122249. DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2023.122249

Ghmkin Hassan, Maram H Zahra, Akimasa Seno, Masaharu Seno. The significance of ErbB2/3 in the conversion of induced pluripotent stem cells into cancer stem cells. Sci Rep 12, 2711 (2022) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-04980-y

Mona Sheta, Ghmkin Hassan, Said M. Afify, Sadia Monzur, Kazuki Kumon, Hagar A Abu Quora, Mahmoud Farahat, Maram H Zahra, Xiaoying Fu, Akimasa Seno, Masaharu Seno. Chronic exposure to FGF2 converts iPSCs into cancer stem cells with an enhanced integrin/focal adhesion/PI3K/AKT axis Cancer Lett. 2021 Aug 26; 521:142-154. DOI: 10.1016/j.canlet.2021.08.026

Maram H Zahra, Said M Afify, Ghmkin Hassan, Akimasa Seno, Masaharu Seno. Metformin suppresses self‐renewal and stemness of cancer stem cell models derived from pluripotent stem cells. Cell Biochem. Funct. 2021 Oct;39(7):896-907. DOI: 10.1002/cbf.3661

Hiroko Ishii, Maram H. Zahra, Atushi Takayanagi, Masaharu Seno. A Novel Artificially Humanized Anti-Cripto-1 Antibody Suppressing Cancer Cell Growth. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021 Feb 8;22(4):1709. DOI: 10.3390/ijms22041709

Said M. Afify, Anna Sanchez Calle, Ghmkin Hassan, Kazuki Kumon, Hend M Nawara, Maram H Zahra, Juan Du, Masaharu Seno. A novel model of liver cancer stem cells developed from induced pluripotent stem cells. Br J Cancer. 2020 Apr;122(9):1378-1390. DOI: 10.3390/ijms22041709

Hend M Nawara, Said M. Afify, Ghmkin Hassan, Maram H. Zahra, Narwa N Atallah, Hager Mansour, Hagar A Abu Quora, Md Jahangir Alam, Amira Osman, Hiroki Kakuta Hiroki Hamada, Akimasa Seno, Masaharu Seno. Paclitaxel and Sorafenib: The Effective Combination of Suppressing the Self-Renewal of Cancer Stem Cells. Cancers (Basel). 2020 May 26;12(6): 1360. DOI: 10.3390/cancers12061360

Maram H Zahra, Tarek A.R. Salem, Bishoy El-Aarag, Nermeen Yosri, Samah EL-Ghlban, Kholoud Zaki, Amel H Marei, Aida Abd El-Wahed, Aamer Saeed, Alfi Khatib, Mohamed F AlAjmi, Abdulrahman M Shathili, Jianbo Xiao, Shaden A M Khalifa, Hesham R El-Seedi. Alpinia zerumbet (Pers.): Food and Medicinal Plant with Potential In Vitro and In Vivo Anti-Cancer Activities. Molecules. 2019 Jul 8;24(13):2495. DOI: 10.3390/molecules24132495

Neha Nair, Anna Sanchez Calle, Maram H Zahra, Marta Prieto-Vila, Aung Ko Ko Oo, Laura Hurley, Arun Vaidyanath, Akimasa Seno, Junko Masuda, Yoshiaki Iwasaki, Hiromi Tanaka, Tomonari Kasai, and Masaharu Seno. A cancer stem cell model as the point of origin of cancer-associated fibroblasts in tumor microenvironment. Sci Rep. (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-07144-5