Dr. Marasco is a faculty member in the Department of Cancer, Immunology and AIDS at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS). He is a licensed physician-scientist with training in internal medicine and infectious diseases. His clinical practice sub-specialty is in the treatment of immunocompromised (cancer, bone marrow, and solid organ transplant) patients.
Dr. Marasco is also a principal faculty member of Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the scientific director of two of its scientific core facilities: Center for Human Antibody Therapies, which is focused on the development of human antibody drugs that can be used to direct/redirect human stem cell differentiation and expansion in vivo and Neonatal Humanized Mouse Center that specializes in the development of new human stem cell therapies for the repair and regeneration of diseased, damaged, or degenerative tissue.
His research laboratory is focused on the areas of therapeutic human monoclonal antibody and adult stem cell (ASC) development. The therapeutic human antibody studies involve developing passive immunotherapy to prevent and treat global and emerging infectious diseases including the development of a universal influenza vaccine. His laboratory is also developing antibody and cellular therapies for the eradication of cancer. In the area of adult stem cells, Dr. Marasco heads an HMS team that is investigating the pluripotent potential of ASCs using humanized mice as models for host immunity, vaccine development, and regenerative medicine.
In 2003, Dr. Marasco founded the National Foundation of Cancer Research Center for Therapeutic Antibody Engineering to expand the use of human monoclonal antibodies in the treatment of cancer. In 2009, he was listed among 13 top scientists in their field as the 21st century medicine “Pioneers of Medicine Progress” by US News & World Report. He is a founder of NeoStem and served as chairman of its scientific and medical advisory boards through 2011. In 2012, he became chairman of the scientific advisory board of BioRestorative Therapies, Inc.