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2025
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Molecular Biology
USA
2026

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Best Scientists

D-Index
203
Citations
169629
World Ranking
259
National Ranking
170

Molecular Biology

D-Index
195
Citations
157385
World Ranking
22
National Ranking
15

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Molecular Biology in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Best Scientists Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Molecular Biology in United States Leader Award
  • 2024 - Research.com Genetics and Molecular Biology in United States Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Molecular Biology in United States Leader Award
  • 2010 - Member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM)
  • 1998 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • 1992 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 1982 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Member of the Association of American Physicians
  • Member of the Association of American Physicians
  • Member of the Association of American Physicians

Overview

Ira Pastan is affiliated with the Center for Cancer Research in the United States. Their research spans multiple disciplines within biomedical sciences, with a primary focus on medicine, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology, and immunology and microbiology. Their work particularly emphasizes immunology, biotechnology, pulmonary and respiratory medicine, oncology, and radiology, nuclear medicine, and imaging.

The scientist has contributed extensively to topics such as toxin mechanisms and immunotoxins, CAR-T cell therapy research, monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies research, occupational and environmental lung diseases, transgenic plants and applications, cancer research and treatments, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia research.

Significant recent papers authored or co-authored by Ira Pastan include:

  • Immunogenicity of Immunotoxins Containing Pseudomonas Exotoxin A: Causes, Consequences, and Mitigation (2020), published in Frontiers in Immunology
  • Moxetumomab pasudotox in heavily pre-treated patients with relapsed/refractory hairy cell leukemia (HCL): long-term follow-up from the pivotal trial (2021), published in Journal of Hematology & Oncology
  • Phase 1 study of the immunotoxin LMB-100 in patients with mesothelioma and other solid tumors expressing mesothelin (2020), published in Cancer
  • Multiple proteases are involved in mesothelin shedding by cancer cells (2020), published in Communications Biology
  • Development of Highly Effective Anti-Mesothelin hYP218 Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells With Increased Tumor Infiltration and Persistence for Treating Solid Tumors (2022), published in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics

Frequent co-authors of Ira Pastan include Raffit Hassan, Robert J. Kreitman, Christine Alewine, Seth M. Steinberg, and Xiufen Liu.

Their research outputs are often published in venues such as:

  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Journal of Clinical Oncology
  • Molecular Cancer Therapeutics
  • Biomolecules
  • Regular and Young Investigator Award Abstracts

Ira Pastan's professional recognition includes memberships and fellowships in several notable scientific organizations:

  • Member of the National Academy of Sciences (1982)
  • Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1992)
  • Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1998)
  • Member of the National Academy of Medicine (2010)
  • Member of the Association of American Physicians

Best Publications

  • Biochemistry of multidrug resistance mediated by the multidrug transporter.

    Michael M. Gottesman;Ira Pastan

  • Cellular localization of the multidrug-resistance gene product P-glycoprotein in normal human tissues

    Franz Thiebaut;Takashi Tsuruo;Hirofumi Hamada;Michael M. Gottesman

  • Biochemical, cellular, and pharmacological aspects of the multidrug transporter

    Suresh V. Ambudkar;Saibal Dey;Christine A. Hrycyna;Muralidhara Ramachandra

  • Internal duplication and homology with bacterial transport proteins in the mdr1 (P-glycoprotein) gene from multidrug-resistant human cells

    Chang jie Chen;Janice E. Chin;Kazumitsu Ueda;Douglas P. Clark

  • Expression of a multidrug-resistance gene in human tumors and tissues

    A T Fojo;K Ueda;D J Slamon;D G Poplack

  • Expression of Multidrug Resistance Gene in Human Cancers

    Lori J. Goldstein;Hanan Galski;Antonio Fojo;Mark Willingham

  • The Rous sarcoma virus long terminal repeat is a strong promoter when introduced into a variety of eukaryotic cells by DNA-mediated transfection

    Cornelia M. Gorman;Glenn T. Merlino;Mark C. Willingham;Ira Pastan

  • Expression of a full-length cDNA for the human "MDR1" gene confers resistance to colchicine, doxorubicin, and vinblastine

    Kazumitsu Ueda;Carol Cardarelli;Michael M. Gottesman;Ira Pastan

  • The multidrug transporter, a double-edged sword.

    M. M. Gottesman;Ira Pastan

  • Control of large, established tumor xenografts with genetically retargeted human T cells containing CD28 and CD137 domains

    Carmine Carpenito;Michael C. Milone;Raffit Hassan;Jacqueline C. Simonet

  • Modulation of activity of the promoter of the human MDR1 gene by Ras and p53.

    Khew-Voon Chin;Kazumitsu Ueda;Ira Pastan;Michael M. Gottesman

  • Molecular cloning of mesothelin, a differentiation antigen present on mesothelium, mesotheliomas, and ovarian cancers.

    Kai Chang;Ira Pastan

  • Multiple-drug resistance in human cancer.

    I Pastan;M Gottesman

  • Role of cyclic nucleotides in growth control.

    I H Pastan;G S Johnson;W B Anderson

  • Dansylcadaverine inhibits internalization of 125I-epidermal growth factor in BALB 3T3 cells.

    H.T. Haigler;F.R. Maxfield;M.C. Willingham;I. Pastan

  • Isolation of human mdr DNA sequences amplified in multidrug-resistant KB carcinoma cells.

    Igor B. Roninson;Janice E. Chin;Kyunghee Choi;Philippe Gros

  • Immunohistochemical localization in normal tissues of different epitopes in the multidrug transport protein P170: evidence for localization in brain capillaries and crossreactivity of one antibody with a muscle protein.

    Franz Thiebaut;Takashi Tsuruo;Hirofumi Hamada;Michael M. Gottesman

  • Direct visualization of binding, aggregation, and internalization of insulin and epidermal growth factor on living fibroblastic cells.

    Joseph Schlessinger;Yoram Shechter;Mark C. Willingham;Ira Pastan

  • Human multidrug-resistant cell lines: increased mdr1 expression can precede gene amplification.

    D.-W. Shen;A. Fojo;J. E. Chin;I. B. Roninson

  • Certain calcium channel blockers bind specifically to multidrug-resistant human KB carcinoma membrane vesicles and inhibit drug binding to P-glycoprotein.

    M M Cornwell;I Pastan;M M Gottesman

Frequent Co-Authors

Mark C. Willingham
Mark C. Willingham Wake Forest University
David J. FitzGerald
David J. FitzGerald MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Michael M. Gottesman
Michael M. Gottesman National Institutes of Health
Robert J. Kreitman
Robert J. Kreitman National Cancer Institute
Byungkook Lee
Byungkook Lee National Institutes of Health
Ulrich Brinkmann
Ulrich Brinkmann Roche (Switzerland)
Vijay K. Chaudhary
Vijay K. Chaudhary University of Delhi
Maryalice Stetler-Stevenson
Maryalice Stetler-Stevenson National Institutes of Health
Mitchell Ho
Mitchell Ho Center for Cancer Research
Darell D. Bigner
Darell D. Bigner Duke University

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