The Technion’s story has been intertwined with Israel’s for more than a century, from laying the foundations for a new nation to shaping its future.
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Prof. Shaked’s lab pioneered the term “host response to anti-cancer drugs”— a patient’s response to cancer treatments, which may explain therapy resistance and cancer metastasis. He found that anti-cancer drugs, including chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, targeted drugs, and even immunotherapy, can contribute to cancer cell resistance or spread by provoking the body to protect its cancer cells from the toxic effects of treatments. This research has paved the way for new combinations of cancer treatments that block the body’s protective patterns, increase therapeutic outcome, and further support precision medicine in oncology.
Prof. Shaked founded the company OncoHost, a next-generation leader in precision oncology, which utilizes the host response effects to predict a patient’s outcome to therapy. Using data generated by OncoHost, Prof. Shaked published a study in November 2021 predicting lung patients’ response to immunotherapy. In 2020, he and other researchers at the RTICC investigated and discredited the widely held assumption that cancer patients are more at-risk for COVID-19, suggesting that most are not more likely to become infected than the population at large, and might in fact have the same if not better odds of beating the virus’ most severe symptoms. Ongoing studies supported their initial findings, suggesting that cancer patients can benefit from the vaccine, similar to healthy groups. OncoHost, which won the Frost & Sullivan 2021 Technology Innovation Leadership Award, has raised at least $50 million and has a branch in North Carolina.
Prof. Shaked also co-founded RemedyCell Ltd., a biotech company that takes the findings of the host response to anti-cancer treatments to other pathologies. The company is currently focusing on a novel therapeutic strategy for the devastating and incurable disease, pulmonary fibrosis.
Prof. Shaked is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and earned his doctorate from the Department of Neurology at Hadassah University Hospital. He completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Toronto and joined the Technion in 2008 as a Landau Fellow in the Leaders in Science and Technology Program.
A prolific author, Prof. Shaked has published more than 140 scientific papers. He holds more than 10 U.S. patents (in different stages of approval), and has received numerous scholarships, such as the prestigious European Research Council award and research grants including the Krill Prize for Excellence in Scientific Research.
