Cancer Biology & Genetics Program

The Luis Parada Lab

Luis F. Parada, PhD

Director, Brain Tumor Center; Albert C. Foster Chair; American Cancer Society Research Professor; Professor, Cell and Developmental Biology Program, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences

Professor

The Parada lab uses genetically engineered mouse models to recapitulate and study human disease. These mouse strains are used to understand the natural history of tumors of the nervous system, including glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST), neurofibromas, and other diseases associated with neurofibromatosis (NF1). We seek to develop mouse cancer models based on concrete hypotheses and to rapidly transfer findings for validation in human cancer samples.

Research Projects

VIDEO | 02:46

Go inside the lab of Luis Parada from MSK's Brain Tumor Center.

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Featured News

In the Lab

Starving Cancer Stem Cells Could Be the Trick to Treating Glioblastoma, Study Finds

MSK researchers have identified a compound that kills glioblastoma cells using a mechanism that’s completely different from earlier treatments.

Publications Highlights

Gliocidin is a nicotinamide-mimetic prodrug that targets glioblastoma. 2024. Chen, Y, Iyer, S, Hsieh, D, Li, B, Elias, H, Wang, T, Li, J, Ganbold, M, Lien, M, Peng, Y, Xie X, Jayewickreme, C, van den Brink, M, Brady, S, Lim, S, Parada, LF. 2024, Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08224-z.

Glioblastoma functional heterogeneity and enrichment of cancer stem cells with tumor recurrence. 2024. Xie XP, Ganbold M, Li J, Lien M, Chipman ME, Wang T, Jayewickreme CD, Pedraza AM, Bale T, Tabar V, Brennan C, Sun D, Sharma R, Parada LF. 2024, Neuron, PMID: 39510072.

Hydroxychloroquine prevents resistance and potentiates the antitumor effect of SHP2 inhibition in NF1-associated malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors. 2024. Sait SF, Tang KH, Angus SP, Brown R, Sun D, Xie X, Iltis C, Lien M, D Socci N, Bale TA, Davis C, Dixon SAH, Zhang C, Wade Clapp D, Neel BG, Parada LF. 2024, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, PMID: 39793045; PMCID: PMC11725864.

Quiescent human glioblastoma cancer stem cells drive tumor initiation, expansion, and recurrence following chemotherapy. 2022. Xie XP, Laks DR, Sun D, Ganbold M, Wang Z, Pedraza AM, Bale T, Tabar V, Brennan C, Zhou X, Parada LF. 2022, Dev Cell, PMCID: PMC8820651.

Stem-like cells drive NF1-associated MPNST functional heterogeneity and relapse after chemotherapy. 2021. Sun D, Xie X, Wang Z, Sait S, Iyer S, Chen Y, Brown R, Laks D, Chipman M, and Parada L. 2021, Cell Stem Cell, PMCID: PMC8349880.

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People

Luis F. Parada, PhD

Developmental biologist Luis F. Parada uses genetically engineered mouse models to study neurofibromatosis, brain tumors, cancer stem cells, and tumor progression.
PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

[email protected]: Email Address
646-888-2055 (Assistant to Dr. Parada): Office Phone

Members

Sheila Alcantara
Senior Research Scientist

Yu-Jung Chen, Graduate Student — Yu-Jung Chen
Postdoctoral Fellow, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

Mungunsarnai Ganbold
Computational Biologist I

Jing Li, PhD — Jing Li
Senior Research Assistant

Michelle Lien
Senior Project Coordinator

Alicia Maria Pedraza, MA — Alicia Maria Pedraza
Senior Research Assistant

Sameer Farouk Sait, Hematology-oncology Fellows at MSKCC/Cornell — Sameer Farouk Sait
Hematology-oncology Fellows at MSKCC/Cornell

Tao Wang- Graduate Student — Tao Wang
Graduate Student

Xuanhua Xie, PhD — Xuanhua Xie
Visiting Investigator

Lab Alumni

Mollie Chipman
Consultant, Boston Consulting Group, New York, NY

Dan Laks, PhD — Dan Laks
Research Scholar

Lu Le

Kyun Lim

Zhenzhong Ma

Yufeng Shi, PhD — Yufeng Shi
Research Associate

Daochun Sun, PhD — Daochun Sun
Research Associate

Zilai Wang, PhD — Zilai Wang
Research Associate

Lab Affiliations

Achievements

Fellow, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy (2023)
Member, National Academy of Sciences (2011)
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2009)
Member, National Academy of Medicine - Former Institute of Medicine (2007)
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2007)

The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Sciences of Texas (TAMEST) (2007)
Member, Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives (2003)
Professor, American Cancer Society Research (2002)

Lab News & Events

Upcoming event

Higher Order Chromatin Architecture in Human Health and Disease

Thursday, March 20, 2025 - 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Rockefeller Research Laboratories
430 East 67th Street
Room RRL-116
New York, NY 10065

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

Career Opportunities

The Luis F. Parada laboratory currently has a position open for a postdoctoral research fellow.

Apply now

Get in Touch

[email protected]

Lab Head Email
646-888-2055 (Assistant to Dr. Parada)

Office Phone
646-888-3780

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.

Luis F. Parada discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

Illumina
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].

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