Rate My Professor Tassos Karadimitris

Professor Tassos Karadimitris is Professor of Haematology in the Department of Immunology and Inflammation within the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. He serves as Co-Director of the Centre for Haematology and holds the Langmuir Chair as Director of the Hugh and Josseline Langmuir Centre for Myeloma Research, a position he assumed in 2020 following a £10 million donation to advance multiple myeloma research. He is also an Honorary Consultant Haematologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. As a group leader in haemato-oncology, his clinical activities include participating in and leading phase III clinical trials, while developing capacity for early phase I/II trials for lymphoma and myeloma in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry.

His research laboratory focuses on three interconnected areas. First, the molecular and cellular pathogenesis of multiple myeloma and other mature B cell malignancies, delineating myeloma propagating cells, the role of transcription factor deregulation, and mechanisms of osteoclast activation leading to bone disease. Second, the biology of glycolipid-specific T cells and their therapeutic potential in haematological diseases, including invariant NKT cells in allogeneic stem cell transplantation for CD1d-expressing B cell malignancies and glycosylphosphatidylinositol-specific T cells in paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria. Third, the transcriptional and epigenetic basis of housekeeping gene regulation and its implications for autosomal recessive Mendelian diseases, using inherited GPI deficiency and glycolytic pathway disorders as models. Employing molecular and cell biology tools such as genomics, advanced flow cytometry, and animal models, alongside systems biology collaborations, his work integrates translational immunotherapy programs harnessing chimeric antigen receptor, TCR, and bispecific antibody technologies targeting blood cancers and autoimmune diseases. Key publications include 'Cord Blood CAR-NK Cells: Favorable Initial Efficacy and Persistence in Poor-Risk Myeloma Patients' (Cancer Discovery, 2020), 'Off-the-shelf dual CAR-iNKT cell immunotherapy eradicates CD19-positive and CD19-negative lymphomas' (Blood, 2026), 'CAR-iNKT cells targeting clonal TCRVβ chains as a precision immunotherapy for T-cell malignancies' (Nature Communications, 2023), and 'Glycosphingolipid synthesis inhibition limits osteoclast activation and multiple myeloma bone disease' (Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2015). His contributions have significant impact through pioneering cellular immunotherapies and leading major research centres in haematology.