Cancer Biology & Genetics Program

The Tuomas Tammela Lab

Tuomas Tammela, MD, PhD

Associate Member, Cancer Biology & Genetics Program, MSKCC

The Tammela lab is interested in understanding the remarkable phenotypic heterogeneity of cancer cells within tumors. We approach this question using a combination of sophisticated genetically engineered mouse models, single-cell approaches, tracing and ablation of distinct tumor cell lineages, CRISPR-mediated gene regulation, and advanced imaging techniques. We utilize the exceptional resources developed by our MSK collaborators, such as organoids and xenografts, for the translation of our findings into new treatments for human cancer. Our goal is to discover pathways that drive distinct cellular phenotypes and to develop new therapeutic concepts aimed at reducing cellular heterogeneity in tumors.

Research Projects

Understanding Cellular Heterogeneity in Cancer

VIDEO | 01:57

Go inside the lab of Tuomas Tammela from SKI’s Cancer Biology & Genetics Program.

Video Details

Featured News

At Work: Cancer Biologist Tuomas Tammela

Cancer biologist Tuomas Tammela discusses his path to becoming a cancer researcher and the focus of his lab.

scientific image of mouse lung cancer cells

Lung Cancer Cells’ ‘Memories’ Suggest New Strategy For Improving Treatment

Research from the lab of cancer biologist Tuomas Tammela shows that some lung cancer cells retain a “memory” of the healthy cell where they came from — one that might be exploited to make an emerging type of lung cancer treatment called KRAS inhibition more effective.

Finding

A Never-Before-Seen Cell State May Explain Cancer’s Ability to Resist Drugs

Identified in mice, this unusual cell state emerges early during tumor evolution and gives tumors enormous malleability.

Publications Highlights

Singhal A, Styers HC, Rub J, Li Z, Torborg SR, Kim J, Grbovic-Huezo O, Feng H, Tarcan ZC, Sahin Ozkan H, Hallin J, Basturk O, Yaeger R, Christensen JG, Betel D, Yan Y, Chio IIC, de Stanchina E, Tammela T. A classical epithelial state drives acute resistance to KRAS inhibition in pancreas cancer. Cancer Discovery (2024). DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-24-0740

Zhuang X, Wang Q, Joost S, Ferrena A, Humphreys DT, Li Z, Blum M, Bastl K, Ding S, Landais Y, Zhan Y, Zhao Y, Chaligne R, Lee J, Carrasco SE, Bhanot UK, Koche RP, Bott MJ, Katajisto P, Soto-Feliciano YM, Pisanic T, Thomas T, Zheng D, Wong ES, Tammela T. Aging limits stemness and tumorigenesis in the lung by reprogramming iron homeostasis. bioRxiv [Preprint] 2024.06.23.600305; DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.23.600305

Li Z, Zhuang X, Pan CH, Yan Y, Thummalapalli R, Hallin J, Torborg SR, Singhal A, Chang JC, Manchado E, Dow LE, Yaeger R, Christensen JG, Lowe S, Rudin CM, Joost S, Tammela T. Alveolar differentiation drives resistance to KRAS inhibition in lung adenocarcinoma. Cancer Discovery, 14(2):308–325 (2024). [PMID: 37931288] DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-23-0289

Torborg SR, Grbovic-Huezo O, Singhal A, Holm M, Wu K, Han X, Ho Y, Haglund C, Mitchell MJ, Lowe SW, Dow LE, Pitter KL, Sanchez-Rivera FJ, Levchenko A, Tammela T. Solid tumor growth depends on an intricate equilibrium of malignant cell states. bioRxiv [Preprint] 2023.12.30.573100; DOI: 10.1101/2023.12.30.573100

Marjanovic ND, Hofree M, Chan JE, Canner D, Wu K, Trakala M, Hartmann GG, Smith OC, Kim JY, Evans KV, Hudson A, Ashenberg O, Porter CBM, Bejnood A, Subramanian A, Pitter K, Yan Y, Delorey T, Phillips DR, Shah N, Chaudhary O, Tsankov A, Hollmann T, Rekhtman N, Massion PP, Poirier JT, Mazutis L, Li R, Lee JH, Amon A, Rudin CM, Jacks T, Regev A, Tammela T. Emergence of a high-plasticity cell state during lung cancer evolution. Cancer Cell, 38(2):229-246 (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2020.06.012

View All Publications

People

Tuomas Tammela, MD, PhD

Associate Member, Cancer Biology & Genetics Program, MSKCC

Cancer biologist Tuomas Tammela investigates cellular heterogeneity in lung and pancreatic cancers.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Postdoctoral Fellowship
University of Helsinki, Finland: MD, PhD

646-888-2048: Office Phone

Members

Jason Chan, MD, PhD — Jason Chan
Clinical Instructor

Brooklyn Christensen

Research Technician

Rodrigo Entrialgo Cadierno

Postdoctoral Fellow

John Guthrie

Research Technician

Gary Guzman

PhD Student, GSK; Geoffrey Beene Graduate Fellow

Photo of Klavdija Bastl — Klavdija Krause
GSK Graduate Student; Harold Varmus Scholar in Cancer Biology; Boehringer Ingelheim Fond PhD Fellow

Photo of Chun-Hao Pan — Chun-Hao Pan
Postdoctoral Fellow

Jeyaram Ravichandran Damodaran
PhD Student, WCGS

Kate Ryan
PhD Student, GSK; Robert B. Catell Fellow

Shekinah Scott

Administrative Assistant

Photo of Dr. Anupriya Singhal — Anupriya Singhal
Clinical Instructor

Hannah Styers, BS — Hannah Styers
Research Technician

Xueqian Zhuang, PhD — Xueqian Zhuang
Postdoctoral Fellow; NYSTEM Training Award at the Center for Stem Cell Biology (CSCB)

Lab Alumni

Photo of Heather Alcorn — Heather Alcorn
Lab Manager

Melissa Blum, BS — Melissa Blum
M.D. Student, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Photo of Selena Ding — Selena Ding
MD/PhD Student, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Alexander Ferrena
Ph.D. Student, Computational Biology Program, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Olivera Grbovic-Huezo
Senior Principal Scientist, Clinical Biomarker Development at Loxo Oncology/Lilly

Photo of Mikel Gregory — Mikel Gregory
BRIDGE Program Post-Baccalaureate trainee

Griffin Hartmann, BS — Griffin Hartmann
Ph.D. Student, Stanford University

Matilda Holm
Postdoctoral Fellow, Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Anna Hudson
M.D./Ph.D. Student, University of Miami

Emily B. Johnson, MPH — Emily B. Johnson
Clinical Research Project Coordinator, MSKCC Pediatrics

Simon Joost, PhD — Simon Joost
Postdoctoral Researcher

Akshat Reddy Mekala

Research Technician

Mandy Montemoíño

Administrative Assistant

Ken Pitter, MD, PhD — Ken Pitter
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, OSUCCC, Columbus, Ohio

Eliud Rivas Hernandez

MSK Bridge Scholar

Carleigh Sussman, BS — Carleigh Sussman
Research Associate, RenBio

Stefan Torborg
MD-PhD Student; Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F30) Fellow

Katherine Wu, BS Senior Research Technician — Katherine Wu
M.D./Ph.D. Student, New York University

Yan Yan
Assistant Professor, Huazhong Agricultural University

Lab Affiliations

Achievements

Josie Robertson Investigator (2017-2022)
The Mark Foundation Emerging Leader Award (2021)
Rita Allen Foundation Scholar (2020)
National Cancer Institute R37 MERIT Award (2020)
American Cancer Society Scholar (2020)

V Foundation Scholar (2019)

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

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Get in Touch

646-888-2048

Office Phone
646-888-3857

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.

Tuomas Tammela discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

Lime Therapeutics, Inc.
Equity; Professional Services and Activities

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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