People

Peter Sorger, PhD is co-director of the Harvard Tissue Atlas and founding director of its Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology (LSP), where most of the HTA is based. The focus of his research is on understanding the signal transduction and cell survival networks whose mutation causes cancer and determines responsiveness to therapy. His group combines experimental and computational biology to study cultured cells, animal models, and human specimens with a particular focus on cell-intrinsic and extrinsic oncogenic mechanisms. His group also works to advance the interpretation and stratification of human clinical trial results. As part of the HTA, Peter works to link new data collection methods with the development of algorithms and computational pipelines for interpreting the resulting multi-modal single cell data.

Sandro Santagata, MD, PhD is co-director of the Harvard Tissue Atlas and a practicing neuropathologist in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital specializing in adult and pediatric brain tumors. Dr. Santagata’s research aims to identify and target vulnerabilities in tumors to improve patient outcome and survival, focusing on primary brain tumors and tumors that metastasize to the brain. Through genomics, chemical biology, and multiplexed imaging his laboratory explores the fundamental mechanisms that allow tumor cells to develop their most malignant features along with colleagues in the Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology.

Joan Brugge, PhD is the Co-Director of the Ludwig Center at Harvard and is a renowned expert in cancer biology and the fundamental mechanisms of cancer growth and progression, in breast, ovarian, and other cancer types. Dr. Brugge’s research provides essential insight into understanding the earliest changes that occur in the evolution of breast cancer in women at high risk due to inherited genetic alterations. This involves generating an atlas of the landscape of human and mouse mammary tissues using a variety of single cell technologies including CyCIF. Dr. Brugge’s lab is also interested in resistance mechanisms by which tumor cells escape the impact of cancer therapy to allow us to develop new strategies which can overcome resistance and significantly improve current and emerging cancer therapies.

George Demetri, MD is the Co-Director of the Ludwig Center at Harvard and has dedicated his career to translational and clinical research aimed at developing practical therapies from fundamental oncogenic mechanisms to treat molecularly-defined subsets of sarcomas and other cancers. Dr. Demetri’s research has accelerated the development of novel experimental therapeutic agents and has resulted in FDA and worldwide regulatory approval of a dozen new therapeutic agents for cancer.

Bree Aldridge, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology and Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University who’s research focuses on designing optimized therapies for TB using cell biology and engineering approaches. The Aldridge Lab is a multidisciplinary research team, integrating quantitative measurement with computational modeling and analysis to create intuitive descriptions of complex cell biology. The lab focuses on characterizing single-cell determinants of mycobacterial drug tolerance, understanding how growth heterogeneity is controlled, and engineering combination therapy.

Jennifer Guerriero, PhD is a cancer biologist who leads the Breast Immunology Laboratory in the Women’s Cancer Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Her research focuses on unraveling the complexity of tissue associated macrophages and their roles in cancer surveillance and progression (TAMs). She and her group study the functions, regulation, and developmental identities of TAMs and perform basic science and translational experiments aimed at identifying clinically effective strategies for targeting TAMs, thereby promoting T-cell activation and weakening the immune-suppressive properties of the tumor microenvironment.

Nicole LeBoeuf, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School who leads the Cutaneous Oncology and Oncodermatology Programs at the Dana-Farber/Brigham Cancer Center. Her translational research focuses on using robust phenotyping and novel imaging methods to understand the immunologic mechanisms of side effects from cancer therapeutics in human skin. She and her team lead clinical trials in rare and advanced skin cancer and toxicity mitigation, bringing novel findings back to the bedside.

Jerry Lin is the inventor of the cyclic immunofluorescence (CyCIF) methods for performing highly-multiplexed, high-resolution imaging of cells and tissues. He leads the development and testing of new methods for increasing the sensitivity, throughout, and information content of high-plex tissue imaging. He also leads projects investigating progression and drug responses in breast and colorectal cancer.

Zoltan Maliga, PhD is an experienced cell biologist and immunologist who, as an NCI Research Specialist, co-leads the tissue imaging platform at the Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology. Zoltan focuses on tumor-immune interactions and leads and effort to understand the origins of adverse response to immunotherapies. This involves improving our understanding of immune homeostasis in epithelia and its breakdown in idiopathic skin diseases and following immune checkpoint therapy as well as the relationship of these phenomena to the treatment of skin cancer.

Hanspeter Pfister is the founder and director of the Visual Computing Group (VCG) at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is an expert in the development of visual analysis tools and methods used to improve how we process complex, multi-dimensional data sets in domains such as neuroscience, genomics, systems biology, astronomy, and medicine. Hanspeter leads the LSP’s effort in the application of machine learning and AI to tissue images.

The Izar Laboratory investigates interactions between cancer and immune cells during tumor development, metastasis and drug resistance using high-dimensional functional single-cell genomics and imaging. The ultimate goal of this work is to inform better selection and development of therapies to improve the lives of cancer patients.

The Schapiro Lab builds computational and experimental tools to develop new insight into the organization and functions of normal and diseased tissue. The resulting information is combined with functional assays to better understand, diagnose, and treat diseases such as cancer.