Dr. Pasi A. Janne

Bio

Pasi Jänne, M.D., is one of the leading researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute’s Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology.

In an article published by Harvard Medical School’s Graduate School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Jänne explains his work.

The focus of my research is to understand mechanisms of sensitivity and resistance ... and to translate laboratory-based observations into therapeutic treatments for patients with cancer,” he said.

Jänne’s research focuses primarily on the growth receptors that allow cancer to thrive and how medicine can prevent them from functioning. His lab’s major research goal is to understand the cancers that feature a mutated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Their current objectives include finding the difference between the different mutations, investigating the most effective ways to inhibit the gene and identifying the ways that mutated cells can resist therapy.

Malignant mesothelioma and lung cancer are two of the diseases that are heavily impacted by Jänne’s research. He was the primary investigator of a 2002 study about the inhibition of EGFR in malignant pleural mesothelioma patients. The results of this study are currently being more extensively tested in laboratory projects.

As a physician, Jänne serves in the Medical Oncology and Solid Tumor Oncology units at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He has been a medical oncologist at the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology since 2001, drawing on his postgraduate training in internal medicine, hematology and oncology.

Publications