Memorial Hospital Research Laboratories

The Luc Morris Lab

Research

Luc Morris
Luc Morris, MD, MSc, FACS

Our laboratory works at the intersection of cancer genomics, molecular biology, animal models, and patient clinical data, to better understand how the genetic features of cancer cells lead to tumor development, evasion of the immune system, and aggressive tumor behavior. This multi-faceted approach can help us to discover new biomarkers and new genetic drivers. Our group has focused for many years on cancers of the head and neck (especially squamous cell, salivary and thyroid cancers). Using this approach, we have identified new cancer genes, developed new animal models, uncovered factors that cancers use to resist therapy or escape immune surveillance, and critically assessed genetic biomarkers that predict response to immunotherapy across multiple cancer types. Through these efforts, we hope to deepen our understanding of cancer genetics, and help set the stage for the next steps of rational clinical investigation informed by molecular insights.

Publications Highlights

Valero C, Lee M, Hoen D, Weiss K, Kelly DW, Adusumilli PS, Paik PK, Plitas G, Ladanyi M, Postow MA, Ariyan CE, Shoushtari AN, Balachandran VP, Hakimi AA, Crago AM, Long Roche KC, Smith JJ, Ganly I, Wong RJ, Patel SG, Shah JP, Lee NY, Riaz N, Wang J, Zehir A, Berger MF, Chan TA, Seshan VE, Morris LG. Pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and mutational burden as biomarkers of tumor response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Nature Communications 2021 [ePub]

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People

Luc Morris

Luc Morris, MD, MSc, FACS

  • Luc Morris is a physician-scientist whose laboratory studies how tumor genetics influence the development of cancer, escape from immune surveillance, and immunotherapy outcomes in cancers of the head and neck and other sites.
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Physician profile

Members

Xinzhu Deng, MD, PhD
Xinzhu Deng

Senior Research Scientist

James Cevallos

Graduate Student

Conall Fitzgerald

Research Fellow

Doug Hoen
Doug Hoen

Bioinformatics Engineer III

Swati Jain

Postdoctoral

Fengshen Kuo

Bioinformatics Engineer III

Cristina Valero Mayor

Research Fellow

Zaineb Nadeem
Zaineb Nadeem

Lab Manager

Manu Prasad

Postdoctoral

Hannah Sfreddo

Medical Student

Joris Vos

Postdoctoral

Jingming Wang
Jingming Wang

Research Scholar

Karena Zhao

Medical Student

Lab Affiliations

Open Positions

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Disclosures

Doctors and faculty members often work with pharmaceutical, device, biotechnology, and life sciences companies, and other organizations outside of MSK, to find safe and effective cancer treatments, to improve patient care, and to educate the health care community.

MSK requires doctors and faculty members to report (“disclose”) the relationships and financial interests they have with external entities. As a commitment to transparency with our community, we make that information available to the public.

Luc Morris discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

  • Personal Genome Diagnostics
    Intellectual Property Rights

The information published here is for a specific annual disclosure period. There may be differences between information on this and other public sites as a result of different reporting periods and/or the various ways relationships and financial interests are categorized by organizations that publish such data.


This page and data include information for a specific MSK annual disclosure period (January 1, 2022 through disclosure submission in spring 2023). This data reflects interests that may or may not still exist. This data is updated annually.

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