Dr. Salim Bougarn

Research Assistant

Email

sbougarn@hbku.edu.qa

Dr. Salim Bougarn

Research Assistant

Educational Qualifications

PhD in Immunology

M.Sc. in Drug Toxicology

Entity

Qatar Biomedical Research Institute

Biography

Dr. Salim Bougarn is a multidisciplinary clinical and translational research scientist with over 15 years of experience in immunology, oncology, infectious diseases, and cellular therapy. He has led pioneering research at the intersection of cancer biology, immune engineering, and host-pathogen interactions.

From 2015 to 2023, Dr. Bougarn served as a staff scientist associate at Sidra Medicine, Doha, where he led projects on primary immunodeficiencies, pediatric infectious diseases, immune profiling in rare diseases, cancer stem cells, and cellular therapy. His work advanced functional genomics in neonates and children, and deepened understanding of genetic susceptibility to infections.

His oncology research includes adoptive cell therapy, CAR-T and CAR-NK engineering, microRNA roles in tumorigenesis, and cancer risk modeling in IBD. He previously held a postdoctoral position at Weill Cornell Medical College (Qatar and New York) and served as a research assistant/lecturer at the Universities of Amiens and Tours in France, contributing to vaccine development and innate immunity research.

Dr. Bougarn holds a Ph.D. in Immunology and Infectious Diseases from INRA, France, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), and a Master’s in Drug Toxicology.

His research interests include cancer immunotherapy, cancer stem cells, pediatric immunology, host-pathogen interactions, precision medicine, and functional genomics.
 

PhD in Immunology

Tours University

2011

M.Sc. in Drug Toxicology

Paris 5 University

2007

  • Oncology
  • Immunology
  • Rare diseases
  • Cancer therapy

Staff Scientist

Sidra Medicine

2015 - 2024

Postdoctoral Fellow

Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar

2013 - 2015

Assistant Professor/Lecturer

Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Amiens University

2011 - 2012

Assistant Professor/Lecturer

Inserm Unit U618, Proteases and pulmonary vectorization, Tours University

2010 - 2011

Tout, I., Bougarn, S., Toufiq, M., Gopinath, N., Hussein, O., Sathappan, A., Chin-Smith, E., Rehaman, F., Mathew, R., Mathew, L., Wang, K., Liu, L., Salhab, A. R., Soloviov, O., Tomei, S., Hasan, W., Da’as, S., Bejaoui, Y., El Hajj, N., Dermine, S., Rasul, K., Dellabona, P., Casorati, G., Turdo, A., Todaro, M., Stassi, G., Ferrone, S., Wang, X., & Maccalli, C. (2025). The integrative genomic and functional immunological analyses of colorectal cancer initiating cells to modulate stemness properties and the susceptibility to immune responses. Journal of Translational Medicine, 23, 193. 

SBougarn, S., Guennoun, A., Khan, T., Adeli, M., & Marr, N. (2024). Concomitant ultrarare mutations in TLR3 and CTPS2 in a patient with severe and recurrent respiratory infections in early life. Journal of Clinical Immunology, 45(1), 14.

Guennoun, A., Bougarn, S., Khan, T., Mackeh, R., Rahman, M., Ali, F. A., Ata, M., Aamer, W., Prosser, D., Habib, T., Chin-Smith, E., Al-Darwish, K., Zhang, Q., Al-Shakaki, A., Robay, A., Crystal, R., Fakhro, K., Al-Naimi, A., Maslamani, E. A., Tuffaha, A., Janahi, I., Janahi, M., Love, D., Karim, M. Y., Lo, B., Hassan, A., Adeli, M., & Marr, N. (2021). STK4 deficiency underlies impaired interferon signaling and T cell immunity. Journal of Clinical Immunology.

Li, J., Ritelli, M., Ma, C. S., Rao, G., Corvilain, E., Bougarn, S., Cypowyj, S., Freiberger, T., Lévy, R., Béziat, V., Shang, L., Payne, K., Migaud, M., Boucherit, S., Boughorbel, S., Chrabieh, M., Cormier-Daire, V., Malfait, F., Zoppi, N., Abel, L., Marr, N., Tangye, S. G., Colombi, M., Puel, A., & Casanova, J.-L. (2019). Chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis and connective tissue disorder in humans with impaired JNK1-dependent responses to IL-17A/F and TGF-β. Science Immunology, 4(41). 

Bougarn, S., Cunha, P., Gilbert, F. B., Harmache, A., Foucras, G., & Rainard, P. (2011). Modulation by IL-17A and IL-17F of bovine mammary epithelial cell response to TNF-α or muramyl dipeptide and staphylococcal lipoteichoic acid. Cytokine, 56(3), 749–759. 

  • 2nd and 3rd best Poster, Best of ASCO, 2024
  • Best Oral communication, Rencontre du réseau IAD, 2010
  • 1st place in doctoral competition in Region Centre, France, 2007
  • Graduated within the top 10 of the class from the National Veterinary College