Immunology Program

The Michel Sadelain Lab

Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD

Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair; Director, Center for Cell Engineering

My lab studies the mechanisms governing transgene expression, stem cell engineering, and genetic strategies to enhance immunity against cancer.

Dr Michel Sadelain has been awarded the 2024 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. The prestigious prize recognizes Dr. Sadelain for the development of chimeric antigen receptor T cell immunotherapy whereby the patient’s T cells are modified to target and kill cancer cells.

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Featured News

How MSK Is Improving CAR T Cell Therapy for Cancer Treatment

Learn how experts at MSK who helped develop CAR T cell therapy to fight cancer are making the treatment stronger, safer, more durable and accessible to more people.

Dr. Michel Sadelain, Director of the Center for Cell Engineering, Sloan Kettering Institute.

Disrupting a Single Gene Could Improve CAR T Cell Immunotherapy, New Study Shows

Learn how disrupting a gene called SUV39H1 could make CAR T cells more powerful.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Physician-Scientist Michel Sadelain Awarded 2024 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) is proud to announce that Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, renowned physician-scientist, Director of the Center for Cell Engineering, and Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair, has been awarded the 2024 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.

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Publications Highlights

Jain N, Zhao Z, Koche RP, Antelope C, Gozlan Y, Montalbano A, Brocks D, Lopez M, Dobrin A, Shi Y, Gunset G, Giavridis T, Sadelain M. Disruption of SUV39H1-mediated H3K9 methylation sustains CAR T cell function. Cancer Discovery. 2023

Haubner S, Mansilla-Soto J, Nataraj S, Kogel F, Chang Q, de Stanchina E, Lopez M, Ng MR, Fraser K, Subklewe M, Park JH, Wang X, Rivière I, Sadelain M. Cooperative CAR targeting to selectively eliminate AML and minimize escape. Cancer Cell. 2023 Oct 4:S1535-6108(23)00326-4.

Zhao Z, Sadelain M. CAR T cell design: approaching the elusive AND-gate. Cell Res. 2023 Oct;33(10):739-740.

Hamieh M, Mansilla-Soto J, Rivière I, Sadelain M. Programming CAR T Cell Tumor Recognition: Tuned Antigen Sensing and Logic Gating. Cancer Discov. 2023 Apr 3;13(4):829-843.

Jain N, Zhao Z, Feucht J, Koche R, Iyer A, Dobrin A, Mansilla-Soto J, Yang J, Zhan Y, Lopez M, Gunset G, Sadelain M. TET2 guards against unchecked BATF3-induced CAR T cell expansion. Nature. 2023 Mar;615(7951):315-322.

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People

Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD

Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair; Director, Center for Cell Engineering

Immunologist Michel Sadelain studies the mechanisms governing transgene expression, stem cell engineering, and genetic strategies to enhance immunity against cancer.
MD, University of Paris
PhD, University of Alberta

[email protected]: Email Address
212-639-6190: Office Phone

Members

Diana Buchman
Senior SKI Administrative Assistant

Annalisa Cabriolu
Senior Research Scientist

Andreina Garcia Angus
Senior Research Technician

Gertrude Gunset
Senior Research Assistant

Mohamad Hamieh
Senior Research Scientist

Sophie A. Hanina
Senior Research Scientist

Sascha Haubner
Senior Research Scientist

Nayan Jain
Research Fellow, Memorial Sloan Kettering, New York, NY

Friederike Kogel
Senior Research Scientist

Ivan Kotchetkov
Assistant Attending, Neuro-oncology

Michael A. Lopez
Bioinformatics Engineer

Karlo Perica
Assistant Attending Physician

Sjoukje Van der Stegen — Sjoukje van der Stegen
Senior Research Scientist

Ophelie L. Vivier
Graduate research Assistant

Lab Alumni

Adam Bogard, MD — Adam Bogard
Research Fellow

Pictured: Rosaria Cristantielli — Rosaria Cristantielli
Research Fellow

Marco L. Davila, MD, PhD — Marco L. Davila
Assistant Member

Anton Dobrin
Postdoctoral Fellow, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

Victor Fedorov

Graduate Student

Leda Ferro

Visiting Graduate Student

Leszek Lisowski

Graduate Student

Jorge Mansilla-Soto
Senior Research Scientist

John Markley

MD/PhD Student

Marcela Maus, MD, PhD — Marcela Maus
Medicine Fellow

Eirini Papapetrou, MD, PhD — Eirini Papapetrou
Research Associate

Lindsay Pharmer, MD — Lindsay Pharmer
Research Fellow

Jason Plotkin
Senior Research Technician

Michelle Saetersmoen
Visiting Investigator

Maria Lemdal Sjostrand
Visiting Investigator

Maria Themeli, MD — Maria Themeli
Research Fellow

Lab Affiliations

Achievements

Awarded Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2024)
Citation Laureate 2023
Recipient of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy Outstanding Achievement Award (2021)
Laureate of the 48th Foundation ARC Léopold Griffuel award for translational and clinical research, Paris, France (2020)
Inserm International Prize, Paris, France (2019)

Jacob and Louise Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine (2019)
Pasteur Weizmann/Servier Prize at the Academy of Sciences in Paris (2018)
Passano Award Laureate, Johns Hopkins University (2018)
Academy of Sciences Medal, Institut de France, Paris, France (2018)
Elected to Vice President of the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy (Vice President 2013, President Elect 2014, President 2015)
Inventor of the Year Award, New York Intellectual Property Law Association (NYIPLA) (2014)
Cited in Science magazine "Breakthrough of the Year: Cancer Immunology” (2013)
Sultan Bin Khalifa International Thalassemia Awards (SITA) International Award for Innovative Medical Research on Thalassemia (2013)
Antonio Cao Award for Research in Thalassemia or Hemoglobinopathies, Palermo, Italy (2013)
Recipient of the Coley Award of the Cancer Research Institute for Distinguished Research in Tumor Immunology (shared with Carl June, University of Pennsylvania) (2012)
Member, Grant Review Committee and Strategic Committee, CIRM (2011)
Incumbent of the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair (2007)
V Foundation Award in Honor of Mayor Rudolph Guliani (2005)

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

Get in Touch

[email protected]

Lab Head Email
212-639-6190

Office Phone
917-432-2340

Office Fax
212-639-6170

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.

Michel Sadelain discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

Alaya.bio Inc.
Intellectual Property Rights
Atara Biotherapeutics
Intellectual Property Rights
Ceramedix
Intellectual Property Rights
Fate Therapeutics
Intellectual Property Rights
Full Circles Therapeutics
Intellectual Property Rights
Juno Therapeutics
Intellectual Property Rights

Minerva Biotechnologies
Intellectual Property Rights
Mnemo Therapeutics
Equity; Intellectual Property Rights
NHLBI Gene Therapy Resource Program
Professional Services and Activities (Uncompensated)
Senescea Therapeutics
Equity; Intellectual Property Rights; Professional Services and Activities (Uncompensated)
Takeda Pharmaceuticals
Intellectual Property Rights
Y-mAbs Therapeutics, Inc.
Intellectual Property Rights

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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