Mahnoush Bahjat
Associate Director - Immunology Safety AstraZeneca
Dr. Mahnoush Bahjat is an Associate Director in the Safety Sciences Department at AstraZeneca, serving as a preclinical Project Safety Specialist for the Immunology Therapy Area. She leads preclinical safety strategy across a diverse portfolio of immunology assets, including T-cell engagers, multispecifics, ADCs, and small molecules. With more than 10 years of experience in immunotoxicology and translational immunology across academia and industry, she brings extensive expertise in immune safety assessment for novel modalities. In her current role, she is actively advancing the translation of oncology safety learnings for immune engagers into non-oncology settings. She also represents AstraZeneca in the IQ Immunotherapy Consortium, co-supervises research with the University of Liverpool on T-cell engager-related neurotoxicity, and has authored more than 12 peer-reviewed publications.
Seminars
T-cell engagers have transformed the treatment of hematological malignancies, and growing interest is now directed toward applying these platforms to autoimmune and immune-mediated diseases. This transition to chronic, non-life-threatening conditions fundamentally alters the risk-benefit calculus and raises critical questions about safety expectations, preclinical development, and dose selection.
- Assessing which aspects of TCE design can be directly applied from oncology to autoimmune settings and which formats must be re-engineered to optimise potency and affinity
- Reframing safety expectations in autoimmune TCEs by evaluating why oncology-derived risk-benefit frameworks are insufficient, highlighting gaps in preclinical models and aligning with evolving regulatory expectations for safer development
- Translating oncology learnings to inform study design, dose selection, risk–benefit assessment and operational considerations for TCE development in autoimmune indications
