Cancer Genetics

Cancer is a disease driven by genetic changes in the cells of the body that can lead to tumors or blood diseases such as leukemia. 

Researchers in the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences (GGS) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai investigate the mechanisms by which cells acquire the capacity for oncogenic transformation. These changes, which accumulate over time, disrupt cellular processes such as growth, proliferation, and survival. Working across disciplines, GGS experts aim to uncover the molecular underpinnings of malignancy and develop new strategies for cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

To advance precision oncology, GGS integrates diverse technologies - including genomic analysis of inherited and somatic mutations, RNA expression profiling, proteomics, epigenetic mapping, imaging, and single-cell and spatial sequencing. These approaches are used to predict cancer risk, identify tumor vulnerabilities, and inform personalized therapeutic strategies.

GGS researchers are also pioneering new methods for sample isolation, molecular profiling, and multi-modal data integration. These efforts have led to the identification of key tumor dependencies and insights into how cancers rewire signaling pathways to initiate disease, sustain uncontrolled growth, and evade immune surveillance.

Collaborating with specialists in oncology, immunology, epidemiology, imaging, pharmacology, and clinical trials, GGS scientists leverage Mount Sinai’s biorepositories and supercomputing infrastructure to uncover drivers of inherited cancer risk, therapeutic response, and resistance. By pairing these discoveries with functional modeling and mechanistic studies, they are identifying biomarkers of response and advancing novel treatment regimens to improve patient outcomes.

Genetics and Genomic Sciences Faculty