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Arnav Mehta, MD, PhD | The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard |Harvard Medical School| Massachusetts General Hospital

Arnav Mehta, MD, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate (Hacohen/Lander labs) | Attending Medical Oncologist

The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard |Harvard Medical School| Massachusetts General Hospital

Project Title:      Discovery of Selective Vulnerabilities of Plastic and Mesenchymal Tumor Cell States in

Pancreatic Cancer

Project Description: This study aims to address a major issue in pancreatic cancer treatment resistance by identifying vulnerabilities in the cells that resist chemotherapy. Dr. Mehta proposes to: 1) Test predicted pancreatic-cancer vulnerabilities in mesenchymal cells found in the Broad Institute Cancer Dependency Map; 2) Perform whole Genome Genetic Screening to identify pancreatic cancer-specific cells that develop into connective tissue, blood vessels, and lympathic tissue; and 3) Perform Chemical Compound Screening in novel lineage-barcoded pancreatic cancer cell lines to identify its reaction in plastic cells.

 

Dr. Mehta’s Bio

Dr. Mehta completed his undergraduate studies at Duke University in mathematics and chemistry. He then completed his combined MD and PhD degrees at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles and the California Institute of Technology, respectively. He performed his PhD work in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Dr. David Baltimore, during which he discovered novel roles of microRNAs in hematopoietic stem cell function and in leukemia.

Dr. Mehta subsequently completed his residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital followed by a combined hematology/oncology fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham Women’s Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute. As a fellow, Dr. Mehta completed his postdoctoral research in the laboratories of Dr. Eric Lander and Dr. Nir Hacohen. During this time he developed experimental and computational methods to study resistance mechanisms of pancreatic, gastroesophageal and colorectal cancers using single-cell and spatial genomics technologies on patient samples and in vitro models.

Currently, as a member of the gastrointestinal cancer group at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Dr. Mehta works in multidisciplinary teams to optimize care for patients and leads the translational studies across several gastrointestinal clinical trials. Dr. Mehta’s research interests include studies of tumor cell plasticity and resistance mechanisms using cutting-edge high throughput screens, single-cell genomics and lineage tracing technologies.