While the Oncological Sciences Department at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai -was only officially instituted in 1993, our researchers have long contributed to the understanding, treatment, and prevention of cancer. Research milestones span basic science, clinical, and psychosocial areas.
Scientific Highlights
1962
Initiated use a sequential combination regimen of chemotherapy for adjuvant treatment of ovarian cancer. - Ezra Greenspan and M. Fieber
1963
Became first to use a sequential combination regimen of chemotherapy for adjuvant treatment of breast cancer.
Learn More1964
Established etiologic link between asbestos and cancer. - Irving Selikoff
1968
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
1985
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
1991
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
1993
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
1998
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
1999
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
2000
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
2002
Pinpointed the CRL7 E3 ubiquitin ligase complex that is indispensable for vertebrate growth. - Zhen-Qiang Pan
2004
Identified a Wnt autocrine transforming mechanism in human tumor cells for the first time and in breast and ovarian cancer cells specifically. - Stuart Aaronson
2004
Described the identification of the phosphatase that inactivates Chk1, a protein kinase, and allows cells to resume cycling. - Matthew O'Connell
2010
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
2010
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
2010
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
2010
Established that CD44 attenuates the stress-induced activation of the Hippo signaling pathway and developed a series of novel anti-CD44 biological agents against globlastoma - Qin Yu
2011
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
2011
Re-established Cdk2 as a non-redundant regulator of cell-cycle commitment and potential target for anti-cancer drugs. - Robert Fisher
2013
Identified a family of nucleases that are necessary and sufficient for lesion processing to enable cells to correct DNA damage. - Mathew O'Connell
2013
Described a long isoform of PTEN that can be secreted and is able to enter cells to regulate lipid signaling. - Ramon Parsons
2013
Introduced the concept that lymphatic endothelial cells control the entry of metastases into the lymph nodes. - Mihaela Skobe
2015
Showed that mitochondrial division is a critical regulator of cellular transformation and cancer metabolism that affects chemotherapeutic success. - Jerry Chipuk
2015
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