Sandro Santagata, MD, PhD: Advancing the Diagnosis and Treatment of Brain Tumors

Sandro Santagata, MD, PhD
Associate Pathologist
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Assistant Professor of Pathology
Harvard Medical School

Abstract

Brain tumors are a heterogeneous group of neoplasms driven by mutations in a wide array of tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes. Characterizing the full spectrum of such aberrations will empower therapeutic advances driven by precision oncology approaches.  In this talk, we will discuss several examples of genomic studies that provide distinct opportunities to use the power of current technologies to improve patient outcomes. We will also explore emerging non-genomic approaches for biomarker discovery and assessment that may also facilitate clinical trial design and patient management.

Short Bio

Sandro is an Assistant Professor in Pathology at Harvard Medical School and practices Neuropathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital. He studied Neuroscience at Amherst College, and then entered the Medical Scientist Training Program at Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSMM). He trained with Eugenia Spanopoulou and Stuart Aaronson and investigated the mechanism of genetic recombination in the immune system and how defects in this system result in immunodeficiency disorders.  He graduated in 2002 and then completed a preliminary year in internal medicine at MSSM in 2003 and then joined the Anatomic Pathology Residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he sub-specialized in Neuropathology.  He is board certified in Anatomic Pathology and Neuropathology.  He completed a research fellowship with Susan Lindquist’s laboratory at the Whitehead Institute/MIT and started his research laboratory in 2013.  He focuses on understanding how stress responses shape the cancer phenotypes as well on molecular pathology research to identify treatments for a range of brain tumors.