Massachusetts General Hospital

Sridhar Ramaswamy, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School

Tucker Gosnell Investigator
Attending Physician
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Regenerative Medicine

Associate Member
Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT
Harvard Stem Cell Institute

Research Summary
Our laboratory is working to understand how human cancer genomes regulate solid tumor growth, metastasis, dormancy, and drug response. Our major goal is to use insights from our studies to develop entirely new strategies for the personalized diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Sridhar Ramaswamy, MD
Principal Investigator

Ramaswamy Laboratory

Staff Scientists

• Robert Morris, PhD
• Ken Ross, PhD
• Ben Wittner, PhD

Research Fellows

• Cleidson Alves, PhD
• Arnaud Amzallag, PhD
• Ipsita Guha, PhD
• Payal Vyas, PhD
• Salony, PhD
• Xavi Sole Acha, PhD

Technical Specialists

• Revati Darp  

Ramaswamy Lab Photo Gallery 

Research Projects

Asymmetric Cancer Cell Division

We have a major interest in understanding how human cancer genomes regulate solid tumor progression. We are particularly interested in defining transcriptional networks that regulate metastasis, dormancy, and drug response. Several years ago, we and others found that multi-gene transcriptional signatures are expressed by a majority of malignant cells within tumors that are destined to metastasize. These studies spurred the development and deployment of widely-used gene signature-based clinical diagnostics for the diagnosis and risk-stratification of cancer patients with different tumor types. We recently found that virtually all of these “poor prognosis” signatures indirectly reflect the activity within tumors of the MYC transcription factor. Moreover, we found that MYC specifically regulates cancer cell invasion and metastasis (apart from it’s well studied roles in proliferation and survival), suggesting that quantitative increases in MYC activity may ultimately cause solid tumor metastasis. Since MYC is arguably the most common human oncogene, understanding precisely how MYC regulates metastasis might suggest new strategies for therapeutically targeting advanced cancers. Current projects include 1) DNA-seq, RNA-seq, and ChIP-seq profiling to comprehensively define the metastasis-related MYC transcriptional state; and 2) functional studies probing this MYC network in vitro and in vivo.

Research PositionsPostdoctoral Research Fellow 
Cancer BiologyA Postdoctoral Research Fellow position is available to study human solid tumor metastasis, drug resistance, and/or dormancy. The candidate must have recently received a PhD or MD PhD degree in the biological sciences, and be highly motivated and well versed in basic molecular biology, cell biology, and biochemical techniques with special interests in transcriptional regulation, epigenetics, stem cell biology, and/or live cell imaging. The Fellow will have simultaneous academic appointments at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Broad Institute. The laboratory provides a rich intellectual environment within a group of highly collaborative investigators, with full integration into the large research communities of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University, the Broad Institute, and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

Interested candidates should e-mail a brief cover letter and CV to:
Sridhar Ramaswamy, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center/Harvard Medical School 
185 Cambridge Street, Boston, MA 02114

Staff Scientist 
Computational Biology & Bioinformatics

A Staff Scientist position is available for a highly qualified expert in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in the Center for Computational Discovery at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School. The individual will join a highly motivated, collaborative, and multi-disciplinary team using high-throughput approaches to answer applied and fundamental questions in cancer biology and medicine. He or she will provide bioinformatics and computational biology expertise for analyzing a significant next generation sequencing (NGS) data stream (e.g., DNA-seq, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, methylation, etc.) and collaborate across the Mass General Cancer Center with different research groups on related projects. We seek a highly motivated and independent thinker with a PhD or MS in Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, or Bioinformatics/Computational Biology, significant familiarity with statistical computing and NGS tools, strong interpersonal skills, and a track record of collaborative work in a multidisciplinary research environment.

Interested candidates should e-mail a brief cover letter and CV to:
Sridhar Ramaswamy, MD OR Ben Wittner, PhD 
Center for Computational Discovery
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center/Harvard Medical School 
185 Cambridge Street Boston, MA 02114

Stand Up To Cancer

Sridhar Ramaswamy, MD, awarded a Research Innovation Grant to fund his lab’s work on the mechanisms of cancer cell survival, metastasis, drug resistance, and dormancy.

Sridhar Ramaswamy, MD, awarded the Sidney Kimmel Foundation Award in Translational Research

The Kimmel Scholar Awards were created in 1997 to further the careers of gifted, young scientists involved in cancer research.

Ramaswamy awarded Howard Hughes Medical Institute Physician-Scientist Early Career Award

Each year, alumni of the HHMI-National Institutes of Health Research Scholars Program and the HHMI Research Training Fellowships for Medical Students are invited to apply for Early Career Awards as they begin their careers as physician-scientists.

Sridhar Ramaswamy, MD, elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI)

The ASCI is an honor society of physician-scientists, who translate findings in the laboratory to the advancement of clinical practice.

Big Data’s Powerful Promise

Mass General researchers believe computational biology will lead to more accurate diagnosis of a broad range of conditions and improved personalized treatments.

Metastasis: The Killing Fields

Cancer begins its spread much earlier than thought, hijacks healthy cells to help it proliferate, and activates a dormant embryonic program that gives it license to travel.

Ramaswamy Laboratory

Phone: 617-643-3140
Fax: 617-643-3170
Email: sridhar@mgh.harvard.edu

Directions to the Ramaswamy Lab.