Houda Alachkar

Houda Alachkar is an Associate Professor of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Southern California (USC). Her research focuses on understanding molecular mechanisms underlying hematologic malignancies, particularly acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), with emphasis on drug resistance, immunogenomics, and targeted therapies. She leads the Alachkar Lab, which investigates T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoires, nanoparticle-based treatments, and pharmacogenomic markers of toxicity.

Her work spans bench-to-clinic translational research, including developing anti-CD99 and FLT3 bispecific nanoparticles for AML therapy, analyzing epigenetic landscapes in leukemia, and benchmarking HLA typing algorithms. She has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, with recent contributions on asparaginase toxicity in Hispanic patients and CD36/APOC2 metabolic pathways in cancer.

Key research themes include:

• Immunopharmacogenomics of T-cell responses
• Novel drug delivery systems for targeted cancer therapy
• Genetic and epigenetic markers predicting treatment outcomes
• Cross-talk between leukemia cells and immune microenvironment

Her lab's innovations include pyTCR software for TCR sequencing analysis and preclinical models of inducible gene knockouts. Current efforts prioritize improving therapies for understudied populations and advancing personalized medicine strategies through multi-omics integration.