Rate My Professor Irina Matei

Irina Matei is Assistant Professor of Immunology Research in Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, a position she has held since 2018 in the Division of Hematology/Oncology. She earned her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Toronto, where her doctoral work examined the molecular mechanisms of lymphocyte development and transformation.

Dr. Matei’s research centers on cancer metastasis, exosomes and exomeres, tumor immunology, the tumor microenvironment, inflammation, and tumor-associated immune responses. Her laboratory investigates how extracellular vesicles and particles mediate long-range communication in cancer, including their roles in pre-metastatic niche formation, immune modulation, and metastatic progression. Key publications include “Tumour extracellular vesicles and particles induce liver metabolic dysfunction” (Nature, 2023), “Genomic mapping of metastatic organotropism in lung adenocarcinoma” (Cancer Cell, 2023), “Unique structural configuration of EV-DNA primes Kupffer cell-mediated antitumor immunity to prevent metastatic progression” (Nature Cancer, 2024), and “Extracellular vesicles from the lung pro-thrombotic niche drive cancer-associated thrombosis and metastasis via integrin beta 2” (Cell, 2025). Additional work explores T cell extracellular vesicle DNA transfer and secretory IgA dysfunction in colorectal cancer. She contributes to collaborative efforts such as the Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) project, with multiple co-authored papers in Nature Communications and Nature on spaceflight-induced physiological changes. Dr. Matei participates in program coordination for the Physician Scientist Training Program in Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine.