Biography

Sam Kazer is a 5th year graduate candidate in the Shalek Lab interested in applying single-cell genomics to tackle problems in infectious disease and allergy. Sam’s research focuses on understanding host-pathogen interactions in HIV infection in humans on a system-wide level; he collaborates widely throughout the Ragon Institute of MGH, Harvard, and MIT and at the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH). 

Sam’s optimistic, but Type-A, attitude was forged through a childhood in the fast-paced cutthroat Long Island, NY suburbs followed by a mellowing high school experience in Denver, CO. Attending Columbia University for his B.A. in Physical Chemistry, Sam worked for three years with Professor Kenneth Eisenthal utilizing non-linear spectroscopy to probe DNA-protein interactions in a label free environment. Following his undergraduate work, he enrolled in the Department of Chemistry at MIT in a Ph.D. program under Alex Shalek. Sam is lapsed photographer, frequent trivia-goer, and all around food lover.

Publications

Pro-inflammatory feedback loops define immune responses to pathogenic lentivirus infection
  • Wilk et al.,
  • bioRxiv,
  • 2023
  • Immunology
  • Genomics
  • Infectious Disease
  • Sam Kazer
  • Ira Fleming
  • Vincent Miao
  • Jennyfer Galvez-Reyes
  • Alex K. Shalek
HIV specific CD8+ TRM-like cells in tonsils express exhaustive signatures in the absence of natural HIV control
  • Fardoos et al.,
  • Frontiers in Immunology,
  • 2023
  • Genomics
  • Biology
  • Immunology
  • Infectious Disease
  • Sarah Nyquist
  • Sam Kazer
  • Son Nguyen
  • Alex K. Shalek
Targeting Treg cells with GITR activation alleviates resistance to immunotherapy in murine glioblastomas
  • Amoozgar et al.,
  • Nature Communications,
  • 2021
  • Genomics
  • Immunology
  • Cancer
  • Medicine
  • Sam Kazer
  • Alex K. Shalek
MR1-Restricted MAIT Cells From The Human Lung Mucosal Surface Have Distinct Phenotypic, Functional, and Transcriptomic Features That Are Preserved in HIV Infection
  • Khuzwayo et al.,
  • Frontiers in Immunology,
  • 2021
  • Microbiology
  • Immunology
  • Biology
  • Infectious Disease
  • Genomics
  • Jay Prakadan
  • Sam Kazer
  • Alex K. Shalek
Evolution and diversity of immune responses during acute HIV infection
  • Kazer et al.,
  • Immunity,
  • 2020
  • Infectious Disease
  • Immunology
  • Medicine
  • Biology
  • Sam Kazer
  • Alex K. Shalek
Innate Lymphoid Cell Activation and Sustained Depletion in Blood and Tissue of Children Infected with HIV from Birth Despite Antiretroviral Therapy
  • Singh et al.,
  • Cell Reports,
  • 2020
  • Genomics
  • Biology
  • Immunology
  • Infectious Disease
  • Sam Kazer
  • Alex K. Shalek
A Single Human VH-gene Allows for a Broad-Spectrum Antibody Response Targeting Bacterial Lipopolysaccharides in the Blood
  • Sangesland et al.,
  • Cell Reports,
  • 2020
  • Immunology
  • Biology
  • Computational Methods
  • Infectious Disease
  • Genomics
  • Sam Kazer
  • James Gatter
  • Alex K. Shalek
SARS-CoV-2 receptor ACE2 is an interferon-stimulated gene in human airway epithelial cells and is detected in specific cell subsets across tissues
  • Ziegler et al.,
  • Cell,
  • 2020
  • Genomics
  • Cell Atlas
  • Statistics
  • Infectious Disease
  • Immunology
  • Biology
  • Carly Ziegler
  • Sam Allon
  • Sarah Nyquist
  • Vincent Miao
  • Constantine Tzouanas
  • Marc Wadsworth II
  • Sam Kazer
  • Travis Hughes
  • Benjamin Doran
  • James Gatter
  • Marko Vukovic
  • Ben Mead
  • Shaina Carroll
  • Alex K. Shalek
  • José Ordovas-Montañes
Integrated single-cell analysis of multicellular immune dynamics during hyperacute HIV-1 infection
  • Kazer et al.,
  • Nature Medicine,
  • 2020
  • Biology
  • Statistics
  • Computational Methods
  • Infectious Disease
  • Genomics
  • Immunology
  • Sam Kazer
  • Toby Aicher
  • Shaina Carroll
  • José Ordovas-Montañes
  • Vincent Miao
  • Carly Ziegler
  • Sarah Nyquist
  • Alex K. Shalek
SARS-CoV-2 receptor ACE2 is an interferon-stimulated gene in human airway epithelial cells and is enriched in specific cell subsets across tissues
  • Ziegler et al.,
  • SSRN,
  • Biology
  • Infectious Disease
  • Cell Atlas
  • Immunology
  • Computational Methods
  • Genomics
  • Medicine
  • Carly Ziegler
  • Sam Allon
  • Sarah Nyquist
  • Vincent Miao
  • Marc Wadsworth II
  • Sam Kazer
  • Travis Hughes
  • Benjamin Doran
  • James Gatter
  • Marko Vukovic
  • Constantine Tzouanas
  • Shaina Carroll
  • Alex K. Shalek
  • José Ordovas-Montañes
Germline-encoded affinity for cognate antigen enables vaccine amplification of a human broadly neutralizing response against influenza virus
  • Sangesland et al.,
  • Immunity,
  • 2019
  • Infectious Disease
  • Medicine
  • Genomics
  • Biology
  • Immunology
  • Sam Kazer
  • Alex K. Shalek
Group 3 innate lymphoid cells mediate early protective immunity against tuberculosis
  • Ardain A. et al.,
  • Nature,
  • 2019
  • Infectious Disease
  • Immunology
  • Biology
  • Sam Kazer
  • Alex K. Shalek
Integrated Single-Cell Analysis of Multicellular Immune Dynamics during Hyper-Acute HIV-1 Infection
  • Kazer S.W. et al.,
  • bioRxiv,
  • 2019
  • Biology
  • Genomics
  • Infectious Disease
  • Immunology
  • Sam Kazer
  • Toby Aicher
  • Shaina Carroll
  • José Ordovas-Montañes
  • Carly Ziegler
  • Sarah Nyquist
  • Alex K. Shalek
Augmentation of HIV-specific T cell function by immediate treatment of hyperacute HIV-1 infection
  • Ndhlovu et al.,
  • Science Translational Medicine,
  • 2019
  • Medicine
  • Immunology
  • Genomics
  • Sam Kazer
  • Alex K. Shalek
Allergic Inflammatory Memory in Human Respiratory Epithelial Progenitor Cells
  • Ordovas-Montanes et al.,
  • Nature,
  • 2018
  • Cell Atlas
  • Medicine
  • Immunology
  • Biology
  • José Ordovas-Montañes
  • Sarah Nyquist
  • Marko Vukovic
  • Marc Wadsworth II
  • Travis Hughes
  • Sam Kazer
  • Alex K. Shalek
Reduced cellular diversity and an altered basal progenitor cell state inform epithelial barrier dysfunction in human type 2 immunity
  • Jose Ordovas-Montanes et al.,
  • BioRxiv,
  • 2017
  • Medicine
  • Cell Atlas
  • Immunology
  • José Ordovas-Montañes
  • Sarah Nyquist
  • Marc Wadsworth II
  • Travis Hughes
  • Sam Kazer
  • Alex K. Shalek
Novel in vitro booster vaccination to rapidly generate antigen-specific human monoclonal antibodies
  • Nandin I.S. et al.,
  • Journal of Experimental Medicine,
  • 2017
  • Genomics
  • Microbiology
  • Medicine
  • Immunology
  • Infectious Disease
  • Sam Kazer
  • José Ordovas-Montañes
  • Alex K. Shalek
Antiviral CD8+ T Cells Restricted by Human Leukocyte Antigen Class II Exist during Natural HIV Infection and Exhibit Clonal Expansion
  • Ranasinghe et al.,
  • Immunity,
  • 2016
  • Immunology
  • Biology
  • Infectious Disease
  • Sam Kazer
  • Alex K. Shalek
Dissecting the multicellular ecosystem of metastatic melanoma by single-cell RNA-seq
  • Tirosh et al.,
  • Science,
  • 2016
  • Medicine
  • Genomics
  • Biology
  • Cancer
  • Jay Prakadan
  • Marc Wadsworth II
  • Alex Genshaft
  • Travis Hughes
  • Carly Ziegler
  • Sam Kazer
  • Aleth Gaillard
  • Kellie Kolb
  • Alex K. Shalek
Multiplexed barcoded CRISPR-Cas9 screening enabled by CombiGEM
  • Wong et al.,
  • PNAS,
  • 2016
  • Chemistry
  • Genomics
  • Technology
  • Sam Kazer
  • Aleth Gaillard
  • Alex K. Shalek
Innate Lymphoid Cells Are Depleted Irreversibly during Acute HIV-1 Infection in the Absence of Viral Suppression
  • Kløverpris et al.,
  • Immunity,
  • 2016
  • Genomics
  • Immunology
  • Biology
  • Infectious Disease
  • Sam Kazer
  • Alex K. Shalek
A microfluidic platform enabling single-cell RNA-seq of multigenerational lineages
  • Kimmerling et al.,
  • Nat. Commun.,
  • 2016
  • Technology
  • R&D
  • Genomics
  • Immunology
  • Biology
  • Alex Genshaft
  • Sam Kazer
  • Alex K. Shalek