David T. Scadden
Stem cell and leukaemia biologist whose lab imaged mTORC1 activity in live mice and showed that well-timed mTORC1 inhibition kills more leukaemia cells
Gerald and Darlene Jordan Professor of Medicine, Harvard University · Director, Center for Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital · Co-Director, Harvard Stem Cell Institute
Portrait: Harvard Stem Cell Institute
David Scadden co-founded the Harvard Stem Cell Institute with Douglas Melton and founded the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, which he directs. He earlier led the Hematologic Malignancies Program at the MGH Cancer Center and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012.
His lab studies blood stem cells and the bone-marrow niche they live in. In a 2021 study of acute myeloid leukaemia, the group built fluorescent probes to follow mTORC1 activity in single leukaemia cells inside the bone marrow of live mice. mTORC1 activity fell as the disease progressed but rose at the point of maximal response to chemotherapy, and inhibiting mTORC1 at that moment killed more leukaemia cells.
Milestones in the Atlas
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | A | Imaging dynamic mTORC1 pathway activity in vivo reveals marked shifts that support time-specific inhibitor therapy in AML OKI2021 Senior author: intravital imaging of mTORC1 dynamics in AML, supporting time-specific inhibitor therapy. |