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Cancer Biology & Genetics Program
The Joan Massagué Lab
Research
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Professor
We are interested in metastasis, the cause of 90% of cancer deaths. The lab investigates metastatic stem cells and their stromal niches. The role of immune regulatory and regenerative signals, particularly TGF-β, is of interest. General as well as organ-specific mediators of metastasis are under investigation. We are defining the phenotypic plasticity and evolution of metastatic cell populations from dormancy to outbreak, identifying drug targets, and enabling clinical trials to treat metastasis.
Featured News
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Publications Highlights
People
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Joan Massagué, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Director, Sloan Kettering Institute; Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Chair; Member, Cancer Biology & Genetics Program
Professor
- Joan Massagué studies the control of stem cell growth and phenotype in tumor progression, metastasis, and response to therapy.
- PhD, University of Barcelona
- [email protected]
- Email Address
- 646-888-2044
- Office Phone
Members
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- Binghamton University
- 646-888-2521/2063
- Lab Phone
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- University of Pennsylvania
- 646-888-2521 / 646-888-2063
- Lab Phone
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- BS, Peking University (Physics)
- PhD, Harvard University (Systems Biology
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Senior Research Assistant
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Sr. Research Scientist
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Sr. Research Technician
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Sr. Administrative Assistant
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Research Scholar
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Research Associate
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Research Scholar
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Research Scholar
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Research Associate
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Sr. Research Technician
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Sr. Research Scientist
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Research Associate
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Sr. Executive Assistant
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Research Associate
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Research Associate
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Tri-I PhD, CBM, Graduate Student
- 646-888-2063
- Lab Phone
- BS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- BS, Bilkent Universitesi
- Cornell/Sloan Kettering Graduate School
- Cornell/Sloan Kettering Graduate School
- Cornell/Sloan Kettering Graduate School
- U. Med Sciences Beijing
- Roswell Park Cancer Institute, NY
- University of Barcelona
- Rockefeller/Cornell/Sloan Kettering
- Rockefeller University
- University of Turku, Finland
- University of Rome
- Cornell/Sloan Kettering Graduate School
- Duke University
- Cornell University, Ithaca
- University of Helsinki, Finland
- Cornell/Sloan Kettering Graduate School
- Rockefeller/Cornell/Sloan Kettering
- Wesleyan University
- University of Texas, Austin
- University of Chicago
- University of Rochester
- Medical University of Graz, Austria
- ISREC
- Rockefeller Cornell/Sloan Kettering
- 1987, University of Santiago, Spain
- Cornell/Sloan Kettering Graduate School
- Uppsala University
- University of Barcelona
- University of Barcelona, Spain
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- McMaster University, Ontario, Canada
- Harvard Medical School
- Institute of Neuroscience, Alicante, Spain
- University of Helsinki, Finland
- Cornell/Sloan Kettering Graduate School
- University of York
- University of Toronto
- New York University, New York
- London Research Institute
- Columbia University, New York
- Tsinghua University
Lab Alumni
Medical Student Mount Sinai, New York
Assistant Professor, Tsinghua University, School of Medicine, Beijing, China
Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Illinois, Chicago
Assistant Member, Molecular Pharmacology Program, SKI; Medical Oncologist, Department of Medicine
Medical Student, Stanford, CA
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Assistant Professor, Peking University
Fellow, Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Postdoctoral Fellow, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN
Senior Research Assistant
Sr. Group Leader, Accutar Biotech
Assistant Professor, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou
Assistant Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
US Director of Medical Affairs, Precision Medicine, Merck & Co.
Herbert Irving Assistant Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology (in the Institute for Cancer Genetics) Avon Products Foundation Assistant Professor of Breast Cancer Research, Columbia University
Assistant Professor, Pharmacology, Yale School of Medicine
Supervisory Patent Examiner, US Patent & Trademark Office
Director of Preclinal Research, Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology, BCN
Chair, Biochemistry, University of Toronto
Professor, Veterinary Clinical Biochemistry, Autonomous University of Barcelona
Associate Professor, SUNY Downstate Medical Center
Associate Member, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Assistant Professor, Pathology, Massey Cancer Center, Virginia Commonwealth University
Professor, Dermatology & Pathology, Yale School of Medicine
Associate Professor, Dine College, Tsaile, AZ
Technology Transfer Office, MSKCC, New York
Senior Principal Scientist-Biology, Pfizer, New York
EVP, Director of Medical and Scientific Affairs at DDB Health, New York
Professor, University of Toronta
Senior Director, ArQule Inc., Woburn, MA
Assistant Professor, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Assistant Professor, Immunology, Microenvironment & Metastasis Program, Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center, The Wistar Institute, PA
Professor, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, School of Life Sciences, Beijing, China
Associate Professor, Medicine; Yale University; Medical Director, New Milford Cancer Center
Staff Scientist, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY
Associate Professor, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Self-Employed, Consultant in Immuno-oncology
Director, Immunology Trans.Sciences, Janssen, New York
Member, Pediatric Oncology & Hematology, Columbia University
Group Leader, Institut de Recerca Biomedica, Barcelona
Senior Clinical Research Associate at Veracyte, Inc.
Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology, U. North Carolina Lineberger Cancer Ctr.
Professor & Associate Director, Cardiovascular Research Institute, UCSF
Chief Scientific Officer, Accutar Biotech, New York
Professor, Biochemistry, U. Turku, Finland
Professor, Pathology and Neurology, Columbia University, NY
Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Scientist II, Biology at BluePrint Medicines
Executive Vice President and Head of Biology, LifeMine, Cambridge, MA
Principal Investigator, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China
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Scientist @ Pfizer
Professor, Molecular Biology, Princeton University
Associate Professor, Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, KAIST, Korea
Head of Intellectual Property, Molecular Partners AG; Switzerland
Director, Division Molecular Radiation Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Graduate Student @ Columbia University
Assistant Professor, Physiology and Biophysics, Cornell University
Patent Attorney, Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research, Boston
Research Technician
Professor, Molecular and Cellular Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Research Scholar
Associate Professor, Center for Advanced Biotechnology & Medicine, Rutgers Cancer Institute, NJ
Director, Melanoma Clinic Dermatology, University of California, LA
Professor, Instituto de Fisiologia Cellular, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Oviedo, Spain
Senior Medical Director at AbbVie, Chicago
Student, St. Joseph's Seminary, Washington, DC
Assistant Professor of Pathology, UT Southwestern Med, Dallas
SVP, Medical & Scientific Services at Chameleon Communications International, New York
Professor, Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine, U. Pennsylvania
Medical Oncologist, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain
Associate Professor, Pathology & Medical Oncology, Yale University
Group Leader, Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, Vienna, Austria
Senior Executive Officer, Digital Transformation, Daiichi Sankyo, Tokyo
Member, Department of Molecular Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center, Florida
Gastroenterologist, Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles
Investigator, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Salamanca
Professor, Cancer Biology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, NC
GSK, Graduate Student
Professor, Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University
Research Director, CNRS and Institute Curie, Paris
Senior Director, Drug and Diagnostic Development, Navidea, Columbus, OH
Principal Investigator, Landspitali University Hospital; University of Iceland
Team Manager, Molecular Cancer Research, Lund University, Sweden
Professor, University of Dundee, UK
Research Director, Vall Hebron Institute of Oncology, Barcelona
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The Jackson Laboratory, CT
Creacion Ventures, Cambridge, MA
Associate Professor, Biochemistry & Medicine, McGill University
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Research Assistant
Partner at Carter, DeLuca, Farrell & Schmidt, LLP
Professor, Rockefeller University, New York
Professor, CIB, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Madrid
Founder at Synthis LLC, LaunchLabs at Alexandria Center, New York
Associate Professor, Anesthesiology, Duke University, NC
Group Leader, CNIO, National Cancer Research Center, Madrid, Spain
Group Leader, Translational Cancer Medicine Program, University of Helsinki, Finland
Professor, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute, University of Barcelona
Professor, Universite de Caen, France
Staff Scientist, Hoffman-La Roche, Inc.
Genetic Counselor, Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, Australia
Head, Bi-Institutional Antibody & Bioresource Core Facility, MSKCC
Associate Professor, Medicine, University of Vienna, Austria
Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia
Senior Investigator, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, U. Toronto
Associate Professor, Tsinghua University, School of Life Sciences, Beijing, China
Senior Director, Translational Research, Ikena Oncology, Cambridge, MA
Chief Editor, Nature Cancer @ Nature Publishing
Member, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion, Mexico
Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
Assistant Professor, Westlake University, China
Lab Affiliations
Achievements
- Chief Scientific Officer, MSKCC (2023–)
- Director, Sloan Kettering Institute (2014–)
- HHMI Scientific Review Board (2014–)
- HHMI Investigator (1990-2013)
- Fellow, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy (2016)
Read more
- Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Cancer Research (2016)
- Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher Prize for Cancer Research (2015)
- National Prize for Research in Biology, Spain (2014)
- American Italian Cancer Foundation Price (2013)
- Prize in Cancer Research, Robert J. and Claire Pasarow Foundation (2011)
- Frontiers Prize in Biomedicine, BBVA Foundation (2008)
- Vilcek Prize, Vilcek Foundation (2006)
- Member, Institute of Medicine (2006)
- Award in Science and Technology, Prince Asturius Foundation (2004)
- Member, National Academy of Sciences (2000)
- Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1999)
- Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (1990)
- Elucidation of the TGF-beta pathway
Lab News & Events
Accolades
Team Recognitions
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Welcome to the Massague Lab: Jean Etersque: Jean completed her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics program where
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The Massague Lab held a Baby shower in Honor of Alhaji Janneh and his family. We are so excited in the arrival of your little one !
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Farewell Hamed : Hamed Shahoei departed the Massague Lab in November
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Congratulations Dr. Massague : A Symposium was held to celebrate Dr. Massague's 70th Birthday in September!
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Welcome to the Massague Lab: Alhaji Janneh who arrived in September from Medical University of South Carolina
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Congratulations: Jing Hu departed in July to an faculty position at Peking University
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Congratulations : Congratulations to Gabi Johnson who accepted a position with Pfizer as a Scientist in May .
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Welcome to the Massague Lab: Ines Godet joined in January from Johns Hopkins University, Maryland
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Welcome to the Massague Lab: Carson Kenum arrived in September from the University of Michigan- Ann Arbor
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Welcome to the Massague Lab: Catherine Bibby July arrived from Binghamton University
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Welcome to the Massague Lab: Kenta Kawasaki arrived in October from Keio University School of Medicine.
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Welcome to the Massague Lab : Elena Spina arrived in August from University of Calabria.
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Welcome to the Massague Lab: Dylan Manuele arrived in June from the University of Rochester.
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Congratulations: Our first in person lab meeting for 2021!
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The Massague Lab celebrates the arrival of Zhenghan Wang’s daughter Everly!
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Farewell: Weiping Shu has retired from the Massague lab after many years of fantastic service as a senior research technician. Thank you Weiping for all your contributions!
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Congratulations: Harihar Basnet who departed in February as Assistant professor in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences at Tsinghua University
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Welcome: Sayyed Hamed Shahoei who joined in November from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Congratulations : Lin Tian who departed in November as research investigator at the division of Biomarker Discovery, Shanghai China
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Welcome to the Massague Lab: Lila Peters arrived in July from the University of Michigan
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Congratulations: George Lampe departed in July to Graduate School at Columbia University.
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Welcome to the Massague Lab: Jun Ho Lee joined in May from UNIST, Uslan, Republic of Korea
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Welcome to the Massague Lab: Jin Suk Park joined in March from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas
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Congratulations to Dina and Lan: The Lab Celebrated the new additions in there family by making them both Grandmothers !
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Congratulations Dr. Massague : A Symposium was held to celebrate Dr. Massague's 70th Birthday in September!
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Congratulations: Jing Hu departed in July to an faculty position at Peking University
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Congratulations to Dr. Yasemin Kaygusuz : Yasemin defended her thesis on 12/2 , Congratulations Yasemin !
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2022 Massague Holiday Party
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Congratulations : The Massague Lab celebrates the arrival of Jun Ho Lee’s daughter Noa!!
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The Massague Lab had the pleasure to attend a summer happy hour cruise! It was a wonderful time!
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Dr. Massague invited the postdocs to his home for an annual gathering.
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The Massague Lab celebrates the arrival of Zhenghan Wang’s daughter Everly!
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In October 2021, A small birthday celebration was held for Gabi.
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Happy Birthday Joan !
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The Massague Lab attending their Friday Lab Meetings!
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Happy Birthday Joan: Post Doc Jin Suk Park playing the clarinet for Joan’s Birthday!
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In June 2019, we bid a farewell to one of our Research Techs, Jessica Hampton. Jessica will be leaving to attend Med school at Stanford University. The Massague Lab wishes her well in all of her future endeavors
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Farewell: Weiping Shu has retired from the Massague lab after many years of fantastic service as a senior research technician. Thank you Weiping for all your contributions!
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March 2019 - Paper Published. During metastasis, cancer cells spread to distant organs where they divide to form microscopic clusters, or micrometastases, that can grow into new tumors. Identification of genes activated in micrometastases can reveal therapeutic targets that can kill cancer cells before they grow into larger tumors that are harder to treat.
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The Massague Lab came together to wish Dr. Massague a Happy Birthday!
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The Massague Lab came together to celebrate Dr. Massague's Birthday
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The Massague Lab at Holiday Party
Open Positions
To learn more about available postdoctoral opportunities, please visit our Career Center
To learn more about compensation and benefits for postdoctoral researchers at MSK, please visit Resources for Postdocs
Post Doctoral Position
Get in Touch
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Lab Head Email
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Office Phone
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Lab Phone
Disclosures
Doctors and faculty members often work with pharmaceutical, device, biotechnology, and life sciences companies, and other organizations outside of MSK, to find safe and effective cancer treatments, to improve patient care, and to educate the health care community.
MSK requires doctors and faculty members to report (“disclose”) the relationships and financial interests they have with external entities. As a commitment to transparency with our community, we make that information available to the public.
Joan Massagué discloses the following relationships and financial interests:
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Institute for Research in Biomedicine Barcelona
Professional Services and Activities
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Scholar Rock
Equity
The information published here is a complement to other publicly reported data and is for a specific annual disclosure period. There may be differences between information on this and other public sites as a result of different reporting periods and/or the various ways relationships and financial interests are categorized by organizations that publish such data.
This page and data include information for a specific MSK annual disclosure period (January 1, 2023 through disclosure submission in spring 2024). This data reflects interests that may or may not still exist. This data is updated annually.
Learn more about MSK’s COI policies here. For questions regarding MSK’s COI-related policies and procedures, email MSK’s Compliance Office at [email protected].