Cigall Kadoch

2024 National Award Winner — Faculty

Cigall Kadoch

Current Position:
Associate Professor

Institution:
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School & Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Discipline:
Molecular & Cellular Biology

Recognized for:
Transformative work to discover and characterize chromatin remodeling complexes, understand how their disruption leads to human disease, and develop a new class of therapeutics.


Areas of Research Interest and Expertise:
Chromatin & Gene Regulation, Protein Biochemistry, Cancer Biology, Human Disease, Therapeutics

Previous Positions:

Assistant Professor, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute & Harvard Medical School
PhD, Stanford University School of Medicine (Advisor: Gerald Crabtree)
BA, University of California, Berkeley

Research Summary:

Genome sequencing studies revealed that genes encoding understudied macromolecular machines, called ATP-dependent chromatin remodelers, are extensively mutated and serve as key cellular vulnerabilities in human cancer. In a series of groundbreaking studies, Cigall Kadoch, PhD and her team deciphered how these large complexes regulate DNA accessibility and gene expression. The Kadoch Lab also unraveled how disease-causing mutations impact their structure and function in an expanding list of diseases, that includes cancer, neurodevelopmental disorders and immunodeficiencies. Dr. Kadoch has built upon these discoveries to develop novel therapeutics, which are being tested in clinical trials and could revolutionize the treatment of diverse maladies.

“The architecture of our ‘code for life’, or DNA, is central to proper gene expression and function of every living cell and tissue. Disruptions in genomic topology frequently drive human disease, motivating our quest to define detailed mechanisms and develop viable therapeutic opportunities.”

Key Publications:

  1. N. Mashtalir, A.R. D’Avino *, B.C. Michel *, J. Luo, J. Pan, J.E. Otto, H.J. Zullow, M.Z. McKenzie, R.L. Kubiak, R. St. Pierre, A.M. Valencia, S.J. Poynter, S.H. Cassel, J.A. Ranish, C. Kadoch. Modular organization and assembly of SWI/SNF family chromatin remodeling complexes. Cell, 2018.
  2. A. Patil, A.R. Strom*, J.A. Paulo, C.K. Collings, K.R. Ruff, M.K.Shinn, A. Sankar, K.S. Cervantes, Tobias Wauer T, St. Laurent JD, Xu G, Becker LA, Gygi SP, Pappu RV, Brangwynne CP*, Kadoch C*. A disordered region controls cBAF activity via condensation and partner recruitment. Cell, 2023.
  3. N. Mashtalir, H. Suzuki, D.P. Farrell, A. Sankar, J. Luo, M. Filipovski, A.R. D’Avino, St. R. Pierre, A.M. Valencia, T. Onikubo, R.G. Roeder, Y. Han, Y. He, J.A. Ranish, F. DiMaio, T. Walz, C. Kadoch. A structural model of the endogenous human BAF complex informs disease mechanisms. Cell, 2020.
  4. A.M. Valencia, C.K. Collings, H.T. Dao, R. St Pierre, Y.C. Cheng, J. Huang, Z.Y. Sun, H.S. Seo, N. Mashtalir, D.E. Comstock, O. Bolonduro, N.E. Vangos, Z.C. Yeoh, M.K. Dornon, C. Hermawan, L. Barrett, S. Dhe-Paganon, C.J Woolf, T.W. Muir, C. Kadoch. Recurrent SMARCB1 Mutations Reveal a Nucleosome Acidic Patch Interaction Site That Potentiates mSWI/SNF Complex Chromatin Remodeling. Cell, 2019.

 

Other Honors:

2023 Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
2023 & 2020 Finalist, Blavatnik National Awards, Blavatnik Family Foundation and NYAS
2022 FASEB Excellence in Science Award, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)
2022 Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator, HHMI
2020 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Outstanding Achievement in Basic Cancer Research Award, AACR
2019 American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) Early Career Life Scientist Award
2019 AAAS Martin and Rose Wachtel Cancer Research Prize, American Academy for the Advancement of Science
2016 Popular Science Brilliant 10, Popular Science
2015 MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35, MIT Technology Review
2014 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science and Healthcare, Forbes

In the Media:

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery – Chromatin-targeted drug discovery at “a very special moment”

AAAS EurekAlert – Study uncovers function of mysterious disordered regions of proteins implicated in cancer

Broad Institute Press – One lab’s deep exploration of a key cellular machine reveals new disease mechanisms and therapeutic opportunities

Flagship Pioneering – Interrogating Cancer Cells: A Conversation with Cigall Kadoch

The Scientist – Cigall Kadoch Unravels Chromatin’s Role in Cancer

Forbes – 32-Year-Old Professor Raises $50 Million To Make Drugs To Control Genes

Endpoints – Dana-Farber team identifies new 'gene traffic control' targets in two rare, aggressive cancers

Dana-Farber ‘Spotlight’ – Solving Puzzles with Cigall Kadoch  

Website