Human Oncology & Pathogenesis Program

The Charles Sawyers Lab

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Research

Charles Sawyers
Charles L. Sawyers, MD
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Chair in Human Oncology and Pathogenesis; Chair, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program

Dr. Sawyers is an HHMI Investigator searching for molecularly targeted approaches to treat cancer. He has identified cell signaling components critical to the growth of cancer cells in chronic myeloid leukemia, prostate and other cancers, resulting in the development of multiple FDA-approved inhibitors in clinical use today.

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The Charles Sawyers Lab

Featured News

Lineage plasticity in prostate cancer depends on JAK/STAT inflammatory signaling

Resistance to molecularly targeted therapies is often due to mutations in the drug target, but there is growing recognition of other modes of tumor esc...
Charles Sawyers in his lab
A New Approach in Prostate Cancer: Targeting the Cells Surrounding the Tumor

Scientists have found a protein that empowers prostate tumors to resist hormone therapy.
Courtesy of the AACR
MSK Experts Featured at the AACR Virtual Annual Meeting I

Thousands of oncology experts from around the world will tune in April 27 and 28 for the American Association for Cancer Research’s (AACR) virtual annual meeting I. The meeting is the first of two virtual sessions, with clinical trial plenary sessions, clinical trial poster sessions, several minisymposia, and more. The AACR virtual annual meeting II will be held June 22 through 24.

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Publications

Zhang Z, Karthaus WR, Lee YS, Gao VR, Wu C, Russo JW, Liu M, Mota JM, Abida W, Linton E, Lee E, Barnes SD, Chen HA, Mao N, Wongvipat J, Choi D, Chen X, Zhao H, Manova-Todorova K, de Stanchina E, Taplin ME, Balk SP, Rathkopf DE, Gopalan A, Carver BS, Mu P, Jiang X, Watson PA, Sawyers CL. Tumor Microenvironment-Derived NRG1 Promotes Antiandrogen Resistance in Prostate Cancer. Cancer Cell. 2020 Aug 10;38(2):279-296.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2020.06.005. Epub 2020 Jul 16. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7472556.

Karthaus WR, Hofree M, Choi D, Linton EL, Turkekul M, Bejnood A, Carver B, Gopalan A, Abida W, Laudone V, Biton M, Chaudhary O, Xu T, Masilionis I, Manova K, Mazutis L, Pe’er D, Regev A, Sawyers CL. Regenerative potential of prostate luminal cells revealed by single-cell analysis. Science. 2020 May 1;368(6490):497-505. doi: 10.1126/science.aay0267. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7313621.

Wasmuth EV, Hoover EA, Antar A, Klinge S, Chen Y, Sawyers CL. Modulation of androgen receptor DNA binding activity through direct interaction with the ETS transcription factor ERG. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Apr 14;117(15):8584-8592. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1922159117. Epub 2020 Mar 27. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7165421.

Zhang Z, Zhou C, Li X, Barnes SD, Deng S, Hoover E, Chen CC, Lee YS, Zhang Y, Wang C, Metang LA, Wu C, Tirado CR, Johnson NA, Wongvipat J, Navrazhina K, Cao Z, Choi D, Huang CH, Linton E, Chen X, Liang Y, Mason CE, de Stanchina E, Abida W, Lujambio A, Li S, Lowe SW, Mendell JT, Malladi VS, Sawyers CL, Mu P. Loss of CHD1 Promotes Heterogeneous Mechanisms of Resistance to AR-Targeted Therapy via Chromatin Dysregulation. Cancer Cell. 2020 Apr 13;37(4):584-598.e11. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2020.03.001. Epub 2020 Mar 26. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7292228.

Adams EJ, Karthaus WR, Hoover E, Liu D, Gruet A, Zhang Z, Cho H, DiLoreto R, Chhangawala S, Liu Y, Watson PA, Davicioni E, Sboner A, Barbieri CE, Bose R, Leslie CS, Sawyers CL. FOXA1 mutations alter pioneering activity, differentiation and prostate cancer phenotypes. Nature. 2019 Jul;571(7765):408-412. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1318-9. Epub 2019 Jun 26. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6661172.

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People

Charles Sawyers

Charles L. Sawyers, MD

Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Chair in Human Oncology and Pathogenesis; Chair, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program

  • Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program Chair Charles Sawyers develops molecularly targeted cancer therapy.
  • MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
[email protected]
Email Address
646-888-2138
Office Phone
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Physician profile

Members

Wassim Abida, MD, PhD
Wassim Abida

Assistant Attending, Laboratory Member

Brett Carver, MD, PhD
Brett Carver

Associate Attending

Weiran Feng, Research Fellow
Weiran Feng

Research Fellow

Zhen Cao
Zhen Cao

NE WGS Graduate Student

Teng Han
Teng Han

Research Fellow

Kayla Lawrence, BS
Kayla Lawrence

Senior Research Technician

Jye Lawson

Assistant to Chairman

Ninghui Mao, PhD
Ninghui Mao

Senior Research Assistant

Abbas Nazir
Abbas Nazir

NE WGS Student

Kyrie Pappas
Kyrie Pappas

Research Fellow

Rodrigo Romero
Rodrigo Romero

Research Fellow

J. Joshua Smith
J. Joshua Smith

Assistant Attending

Perianne Smith
Perianne Smith

Research Technician

Zhen Sun
Zhen Sun

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Marie Will
Marie Will

Assistant Attending

Chao Wu
Chao Wu

Senior Research Scientist

Samir Zaidi
Samir Zaidi

Fellow

Elizabeth Wasmuth
Elizabeth Wasmuth

Research Scholar

Lab Alumni
Philip Watson, PhD
Philip Watson

Assistant Lab Member

Minna Balbas
Minna Balbas

Senior Manager, Clinical Science, Loxo Oncology at Lilly, San Francisco, CA

Rohit Bose, MD, PhD
Rohit Bose

Research Fellow

Ling Cai
Fiona Chen, MD
Fiona Chen

Graduate Student

Daniel C. Danila, MD
Daniel C. Danila

Medical Oncology Fellow

Mike Evans
Mike Evans
Haley Hieronymus

Senior Research Scientist

Phil Iaquinta, PhD
Phil Iaquinta

Senior Research Scientist

Ping Mu, PhD
Ping Mu

Research Fellow

Rajmohan Murali

Senior Research Scientist

Allison Rainer
Emily Schenkein

Research Technician

Neel Shah
Neel Shah

Clinical Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA

Jackline Wanjala

Research Technician

Douglas Wheeler

MD/PhD Student

John Wongvipat, BS
John Wongvipat

Research Lab Manager

Kamlesh Yadav

Research Fellow

Zeda Zhang
Zeda Zhang

Postdoctoral Researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

Dominique Abita
Dominique Abita

Assistant to the Chairman

Elizabeth Adams Whicher, PhD
Elizabeth Adams Whicher

Research Fellow

Aura Agudelo Rivera
Aura Agudelo Rivera

Research Technician

Danielle Choi
Danielle Choi

Senior Animal Husbandry Technician

Tara Guclu
Tara Guclu

Assistant to Chairman

Jennifer Harris

Fellow

Samuel Haywood
Samuel Haywood

Fellow

Elizabeth Hoover, BS
Elizabeth Hoover

Senior Research Technician

Taslima Ishmael, BS
Taslima Ishmael

Research Technician

Sarala Kal

Research Technician

Eugine Lee, PhD
Eugine Lee

Research Fellow

Young Sun Lee
Young Sun Lee

Research Technician

Eliot Linton
Eliot Linton

Research Technician

Tejasveeta Nadkarni
Tejasveeta Nadkarni

Senior Research Technician

Kristina Navrazhina

NE WGS Graduate Student

Bin-Zhi Qian

Research Associate

Patrick Sullivan, BS
Patrick Sullivan

Research Technician

David Wise, MD, PhD
David Wise

Research Fellow

Valerie Wouters

Graduate Research Assistant

Andrew Kwon
Jennifer C. King
Mike Burgess
Trever Bivona
Mercedes Gorre
Kimberly Brown

Research Fellow

Derek Welsbie
Randy Chen
Caren Chapinki

Research Technician

Brian Skaggs
Yu Chen, MD, PhD
Yu Chen
Ingo Mellinghoff, MD
Ingo Mellinghoff

Lab Head

Tweeny R. Kau
Nicola J. Clegg
Neil Shah
Betsy Katz
Alice Tam
George V. Thomas
John Nicoll
Jin Xu

Research Fellow

Tambudzai Shamu

Research Technician

Igor Vivanco, PhD
Igor Vivanco
Kate Ellwood-Yen
David H. Leung
Lab Affiliations

Achievements

  • NCI Alfred G. Knudson Award in Cancer Genetics (2020)
  • STAT Biomedical Innovation Award (2019)
  • AACR Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship and Award (2019)
  • The Scheele Award, Swedish Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences (2017)
  • American Cancer Society Medal of Honor (2017)
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  • BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2015)
  • Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2013)
  • Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2013)
  • Science of Oncology Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology (2013)
  • Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award, American Society of Clinical Investigation (2011)
  • Member, National Academy of Sciences (2010)
  • Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award (2009)
  • Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, Lasker Foundation (2009)
  • Dorothy Landon-AACR Prize for Translational Cancer Research, American Association for Cancer Research (2009)
  • Member, Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (2008)
  • David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology (2005)

Lab News & Events

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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.

Charles L. Sawyers discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

  • Agios Pharmaceuticals
    Provision of Services
  • Annual Review of Cancer Biology
    Provision of Services
  • Arsenal IO Canada Parent, Inc.
    Ownership / Equity Interests; Provision of Services
  • BeiGene, Ltd.
    Ownership / Equity Interests; Provision of Services
  • Blueprint Medicines
    Ownership / Equity Interests; Provision of Services
  • Column Group
    Ownership / Equity Interests; Provision of Services
  • Diaprost AB
    Intellectual Property Rights
  • Flagship Investments, Ltd.
    Ownership / Equity Interests
  • Foghorn Therapeutics
    Ownership / Equity Interests; Provision of Services
  • Housey Pharmaceutical
    Ownership / Equity Interests; Provision of Services
  • KSQ Therapeutics
    Ownership / Equity Interests; Provision of Services
  • Nextech Venture, LTD
    Ownership / Equity Interests; Provision of Services
  • Novartis
    Fiduciary Role/Position; Ownership / Equity Interests
  • Oric Pharmaceuticals
    Intellectual Property Rights; Ownership / Equity Interests; Provision of Services
  • PMV Pharma
    Ownership / Equity Interests; Provision of Services

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, 2021 through disclosure submission in spring 2022). This data reflects interests that may or may not still exist. This data is updated annually.

Learn more about MSK’s COI policies here. For questions regarding MSK’s COI-related policies and procedures, email MSK’s Compliance Office at [email protected].


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