While the Department of Oncological Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai was only officially established in 1993, our researchers have long contributed to the understanding, treatment, and prevention of cancer. Research milestones encompass basic science, clinical, and psychosocial advancements.
Scientific Highlights
1962
Initiated use of a sequential combination regimen of chemotherapy for adjuvant treatment of ovarian cancer. - Ezra Greenspan and M. Fieber
Learn More1963
Became first to use a sequential combination regimen of chemotherapy for adjuvant treatment of breast cancer.
Learn More1968
Confirmed multiple-factor causation of human cancer through work done on increased incidence of cancer among asbestos workers who smoked.
Learn More1971
Discovered that dimethyl sulfoxide could induce cancer cells to progress or differentiate to a normal pattern of development. - Charlotte Friend
Learn More1985
Discovered and cloned erbB2 as an amplified gene in a human breast carcinoma. The technology involved in this discovery is utilized for diagnosing and treating breast cancer patients with erbB2/HER2 amplified tumors. - Stuart Aaronson
Learn More1991
Molecularly cloned HGF and showed that HGF was the ligand for the met receptor, a receptor activated by various mechanisms as an oncogene in human tumors. - Stuart Aaronson
Learn More1993
Department of Oncological Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai founded.
1998
Noted role for p53 in regulating constitutive levels of expression of the gene encoding the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21. - James Manfredi
Learn More1998
Identified differential requirement for the C-terminal domain of p53 in sequence-specific DNA binding for some, but not all, genomic response elements. - James Manfredi
Learn More1999
Distinguished ROC1/Rbx1 RING finger protein as an indispensable component of the SCF E3 ubiguitin ligase complex required for directing protein degradation. - Zhen-Qiang Pan
Learn More2000
Discovered that conjugation of Nedd8 molecule to the cullin-RING E3 ubiquitin ligases activates E3's catalytic activity to form polyubiquitin chains that serve as a predominant signal for protein degradation. - Zhen-Qiang Pan
Learn More2002
Pinpointed the CUL7 E3 ubiquitin ligase complex that is indispensable for vertebrate growth. - Zhen-Qiang Pan
Learn More2004
Identified a Wnt autocrine transforming mechanism in human tumor cells for the first time and in breast and ovarian cancer cells specifically. - Stuart Aaronson
Learn More2004
Described the identification of the phosphatase that inactivates Chk1, a protein kinase, and allows cells to resume cycling. - Matthew O'Connell
Learn More2010
First to show a role for histone variants in cancer progression (prior to the identification of driver mutations in histone variants), and published the first paper to highlight the role of macroH2A in melanoma. - Emily Bernstein
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Established that macrophage in the adult brain derives from embryonic precursors and self-renew locally throughout life; revealed the key role of embryonic events in shaping brain homeostasis. - Miriam Merad
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Identified Rabex-5 as the ubiquitin ligase that promotes mono- and di-ubiquitination of Ras, acting as a means of negative feedback to prevent Ras signaling to downstream effectors. - Cathie Pfleger
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Established that CD44 attenuates the stress-induced activation of the Hippo signaling pathway and developed a series of novel anti-CD44 biological agents against glioblastoma - Qin Yu
Learn More2011
Identified Wnt activation at a very high frequency in multiple sarcoma subtypes; showed that Wnt activation contributes to the transformed phenotype in such tumors. - Stuart Aaronson
Learn More2011
Re-established Cdk2 as a non-redundant regulator of cell-cycle commitment and potential target for anti-cancer drugs. - Robert Fisher
Learn More2013
Identified a family of nucleases that are necessary and sufficient for lesion processing to enable cells to correct DNA damage. - Matthew O'Connell
Learn More2013
Described a long isoform of PTEN that can be secreted and is able to enter cells to regulate lipid signaling. - Ramon Parsons
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Introduced the concept that lymphatic endothelial cells control the entry of metastases into the lymph nodes. - Mihaela Skobe
Learn More2015
Showed that mitochondrial division is a critical regulator of cellular transformation and cancer metabolism that affects chemotherapeutic success. - Jerry Chipuk
Learn More2015
Described a new model of myelodysplastic syndrome based on human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which provides proof of principle for the value of isogenic human iPSC models to study cancer and offers a new approach to the functional study of hemizygous chromosomal deletions found in cancer genomes. - Eirini Papapetrou
Learn More2015
Discovered a role for combined actions of kinase and BET inhibitors in the inhibition of PI3-K signaling and in overcoming resistance to therapy. – Ramon Parsons
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Discovered a role for FOXO1 in instructing the germinal center dark zone program. - David Dominguez-Sola
Learn More2016
Discovered a mechanism of early dissemination in breast cancer involving the coordination of oncogene signalling and macrophage recruitment. - Julio Aguirre-Ghiso
Learn More2016
Created the first direct acting small molecule antagonists against the scaffold protein KSR, revealing a new strategy to target RAS-driven cancers. - Arvin Dar
Learn More2016
Developed a FRET-based high throughput screen platform for the discovery of small molecule inhibitors against the Cullin-RING E3 ubiquitin ligases. - Zhen-Qiang Pan
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Identified structural and molecular mechanisms that determine the biochemical effects of RAF inhibitors, and developed a blueprint for the clinical use of these drugs for cancer therapy. - Poulikos Poulikakos
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Discovered a small molecule RAS-mimetic capable of disrupting RAS association with effector proteins and blocking signaling. - E. Premkumar Reddy
Learn More2017
Revealed mechanisms that regulate DTC dormancy and therapeutic strategies using available drugs to prevent metastasis by inducing dormancy. - Julio Aguirre-Ghiso
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Developed a panel of patient-derived iPSC lines modeling progression of blood cancers from clonal hematopoiesis to myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia. - Eirini Papapetrou
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Discovered a role for PTEN in the regulation of glutamine flux to pyrimidine synthesis and sensitivity to dihydroorotate dehydrogenase inhibition. - Ramon Parsons
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Utilized BET inhibitors (BETi) to identify novel melanoma driver genes that are not mutated, but rather driven by super-enhancer activity, and identified a transmembrane molecule, AMIGO2, as a melanoma survival gene whose expression is driven by a super-enhancer, representing a new potential target for melanoma therapy. - Emily Bernstein
Learn More2018
Combined chemical synthesis with model organism genetics to develop a novel multi-targeted kinase inhibitor. - Arvin Dar
Learn More2018
Uncovered a kinase-phosphatase switch that slows the rate of transcript elongation by RNA polymerase II to ensure timely transcription termination. - Rob Fisher
Learn More2019
Revealed that neuroblastoma in older children and adolescents harboring deletions within a chromatin-remodeling gene called ATRX are sensitive to EZH2 inhibitor targeted therapy. - Emily Bernstein
Learn More2019
Described the first mechanism by which MDM2, the negative regulator of p53, directly disrupts mitochondrial metabolism to promote DNA damage and cell death. - Jerry Chipuk
Learn More2019
Demonstrated that inhibition of protein arginine methylation preferentially kills splicing factor (SF)-mutant cells. - Ernesto Guccione
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Discovered that beta-catenin activation promotes immune escape and resistance to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in hepatocellular carcinoma. - Amaia Lujambio
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Discovered that fasting reduces inflammation and improves chronic inflammatory diseases. - Miriam Merad
Learn More2020
Revealed the first co-crystal structure of trametinib where the drug binding pocket extends to the interface of the KSR-MEK complex, and created a new tool compound, called trametiglue that limits adaptive forms of drug resistance. - Arvin Dar
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Established that IL-6 and TNF-alpha are important predictive markers of COVID-19 severity and survival. - Sacha Gnjatic
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Identified a molecular program induced in dendritic cells upon capture of tumor cell debris that shape their ability to encounter and interact with T cells. - Miriam Merad
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Discovered and characterized new classes of RAF and MEK inhibitors and developed rationally designed therapies for BRAF-mutant cancers. - Poulikos Poulikakos
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Revealed that absence of TBK1 causes a rare autoinflammatory condition, which is treatable by TNK inhibitors - Dusan Bogunovic
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Identified the molecular basis for the distinct clinical and histopathological features of aggressive Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC). - Stuart Aaronson
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Showed that recurrent somatic mutations targeting FOXO1 in germinal center-derived B cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas mimic positive selection programs to favor the expansion of precancerous B cells. - David Dominguez-Sola
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Identified the first small molecular inhibitor against Cullin-RING E3 ubiquitin ligase 4. - Zhen-Qiang Pan
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Demonstrated that AKT degradation causes destabilization of Aurora Kinase B and selective inhibition of cell growth in a subset of cancers with mutant PI3K/PTEN pathway but wild type KRAS and BRAF. - Ramon Parsons
Learn More2022
Developed pre-clinically an innate immunity-based therapeutic for acute myeloid leukemia by inhibiting cleavage of MICA and MICB with monoclonal antibody. - Lucas Ferrari de Andrade
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Discovered a long form of GNAS which activates G protein and ERK signaling, as a specific mis-splicing target of U2AF1 and SRSF2 mutations in MDS. - Eirini Papapetrou
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