Harold Kunal Elias

Harold Kunal Elias is a Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, actively contributing to hematologic malignancies research through the Center for Hematologic Malignancies and Immunology Program Faculty. His work bridges laboratory discovery and clinical applications in oncology.

His research program centers on hematopoietic stem cell biology and next-generation immunotherapies, with three core pillars: (1) Deciphering chromatin landscapes in lymphoid-primed stem cells for thymic regeneration, (2) Engineering safer CAR T-cell platforms targeting CD24 and multi-antigen myeloma, and (3) Investigating molecular drivers of myelodysplastic syndromes. Key publications reveal innovative approaches like leucine zipper-based cell purification and IL-18-secreting CAR constructs that overcome antigen escape.

Recent work demonstrates accelerating translational momentum, with 2023-2025 publications in Nature, Nature Communications, and Blood establishing novel mechanisms for enhancing stem cell reconstitution and reducing CAR T-cell toxicity. His research leverages multi-omics, immunocompetent mouse models, and clinical datasets to address treatment resistance in hematologic cancers.

Dr. Elias maintains extensive collaborations within MSKCC's Hematologic Malignancies Division, working closely with Van Den Brink's immunology group and Rajagopalan's translational team. He participates in Graduate Medical Education initiatives and utilizes institutional resources from the Sloan Kettering Institute to advance cellular therapy development.