Franklin Huang, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor
Primary Thematic Area
M_MED-VAMC-HMON
Secondary Thematic Area
Research Summary
Our lab uses cancer genomics to study the molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis, cancer disparities, and cellular immortality.
Mentorship Development

4/2024 - Supporting Learners in Distress

Dr. Franklin Huang is a physician-scientist and medical oncologist who cares for patients with prostate cancer.

Dr. Huang's lab examines genetic differences between cancer cells and normal tissue, aiming to determine what makes certain tumors more aggressive. His work seeks to understand prostate cancer in African Americans and to develop better treatments. His other areas of study include finding new drug targets for cancer patients with precision medicine and global oncology (a field focused on expanding access to cancer prevention and treatment). His research receives support from the National Institutes of Health, the United States Department of Defense, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the Benioff Initiative for Prostate Cancer Research, the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub San Francisco, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Huang earned his PhD in genetics from Harvard Medical School and his medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He completed a residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and a fellowship in hematology and oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; both hospitals are Harvard affiliates. He is a co-founder of Global Oncology, a nonprofit working to improve cancer care for underserved patients around the world.

Publications

The 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine Landscape of Prostate Cancer.

Cancer research

Sjöström M, Zhao SG, Levy S, Zhang M, Ning Y, Shrestha R, Lundberg A, Herberts C, Foye A, Aggarwal R, Hua JT, Li H, Bergamaschi A, Maurice-Dror C, Maheshwari A, Chen S, Ng SWS, Ye W, Petricca J, Fraser M, Chesner L, Perry MD, Moreno-Rodriguez T, Chen WS, Alumkal JJ, Chou J, Morgans AK, Beer TM, Thomas GV, Gleave M, Lloyd P, Phillips T, McCarthy E, Haffner MC, Zoubeidi A, Annala M, Reiter RE, Rettig MB, Witte ON, Fong L, Bose R, Huang FW, Luo J, Bjartell A, Lang JM, Mahajan NP, Lara PN, Evans CP, Tran PT, Posadas EM, He C, Cui XL, Huang J, Zwart W, Gilbert LA, Maher CA, Boutros PC, Chi KN, Ashworth A, Small EJ, He HH, Wyatt AW, Quigley DA, Feng FY

The Tabula Sapiens: A multiple-organ, single-cell transcriptomic atlas of humans.

Science (New York, N.Y.)

Tabula Sapiens Consortium*, Jones RC, Karkanias J, Krasnow MA, Pisco AO, Quake SR, Salzman J, Yosef N, Bulthaup B, Brown P, Harper W, Hemenez M, Ponnusamy R, Salehi A, Sanagavarapu BA, Spallino E, Aaron KA, Concepcion W, Gardner JM, Kelly B, Neidlinger N, Wang Z, Crasta S, Kolluru S, Morri M, Pisco AO, Tan SY, Travaglini KJ, Xu C, Alcántara-Hernández M, Almanzar N, Antony J, Beyersdorf B, Burhan D, Calcuttawala K, Carter MM, Chan CKF, Chang CA, Chang S, Colville A, Crasta S, Culver RN, Cvijovic I, D'Amato G, Ezran C, Galdos FX, Gillich A, Goodyer WR, Hang Y, Hayashi A, Houshdaran S, Huang X, Irwin JC, Jang S, Juanico JV, Kershner AM, Kim S, Kiss B, Kolluru S, Kong W, Kumar ME, Kuo AH, Leylek R, Li B, Loeb GB, Lu WJ, Mantri S, Markovic M, McAlpine PL, de Morree A, Morri M, Mrouj K, Mukherjee S, Muser T, Neuhöfer P, Nguyen TD, Perez K, Phansalkar R, Pisco AO, Puluca N, Qi Z, Rao P, Raquer-McKay H, Schaum N, Scott B, Seddighzadeh B, Segal J, Sen S, Sikandar S, Spencer SP, Steffes LC, Subramaniam VR, Swarup A, Swift M, Travaglini KJ, Van Treuren W, Trimm E, Veizades S, Vijayakumar S, Vo KC, Vorperian SK, Wang W, Weinstein HNW, Winkler J, Wu TTH, Xie J, Yung AR, Zhang Y, Detweiler AM, Mekonen H, Neff NF, Sit RV, Tan M, Yan J, Bean GR, Charu V, Forgó E, Martin BA, Ozawa MG, Silva O, Tan SY, Toland A, Vemuri VNP, Afik S, Awayan K, Botvinnik OB, Byrne A, Chen M, Dehghannasiri R, Detweiler AM, Gayoso A, Granados AA, Li Q, Mahmoudabadi G, McGeever A, de Morree A, Olivieri JE, Park M, Pisco AO, Ravikumar N, Salzman J, Stanley G, Swift M, Tan M, Tan W, Tarashansky AJ, Vanheusden R, Vorperian SK, Wang P, Wang S, Xing G, Xu C, Yosef N, Alcántara-Hernández M, Antony J, Chan CKF, Chang CA, Colville A, Crasta S, Culver R, Dethlefsen L, Ezran C, Gillich A, Hang Y, Ho PY, Irwin JC, Jang S, Kershner AM, Kong W, Kumar ME, Kuo AH, Leylek R, Liu S, Loeb GB, Lu WJ, Maltzman JS, Metzger RJ, de Morree A, Neuhöfer P, Perez K, Phansalkar R, Qi Z, Rao P, Raquer-McKay H, Sasagawa K, Scott B, Sinha R, Song H, Spencer SP, Swarup A, Swift M, Travaglini KJ, Trimm E, Veizades S, Vijayakumar S, Wang B, Wang W, Winkler J, Xie J, Yung AR, Artandi SE, Beachy PA, Clarke MF, Giudice LC, Huang FW, Huang KC, Idoyaga J, Kim SK, Krasnow M, Kuo CS, Nguyen P, Quake SR, Rando TA, Red-Horse K, Reiter J, Relman DA, Sonnenburg JL, Wang B, Wu A, Wu SM, Wyss-Coray T

Novel genomic signature predictive of response to immune checkpoint blockade: A pan-cancer analysis from project Genomics Evidence Neo-plasia Information Exchange (GENIE).

Cancer genetics

Swami N, Hwang WL, Guo JA, Hoffman H, Abramowitz MC, Elbakouny Z, Beltran H, Chipidza F, Choueiri T, Pra AD, Huang F, Kaochar S, Kantoff P, Kim DW, Kishan AU, Kobetz E, Marinac C, Mucci LA, Muralidhar V, Pollack A, Sanford NN, Schaeffer EM, Spratt DE, Zhao SG, Rebbeck TR, Nguyen PL, Feng FY, Mahal BA, Alshalalfa M

Distinct Classes of Complex Structural Variation Uncovered across Thousands of Cancer Genome Graphs.

Cell

Hadi K, Yao X, Behr JM, Deshpande A, Xanthopoulakis C, Tian H, Kudman S, Rosiene J, Darmofal M, DeRose J, Mortensen R, Adney EM, Shaiber A, Gajic Z, Sigouros M, Eng K, Wala JA, Wrzeszczynski KO, Arora K, Shah M, Emde AK, Felice V, Frank MO, Darnell RB, Ghandi M, Huang F, Dewhurst S, Maciejowski J, de Lange T, Setton J, Riaz N, Reis-Filho JS, Powell S, Knowles DA, Reznik E, Mishra B, Beroukhim R, Zody MC, Robine N, Oman KM, Sanchez CA, Kuhner MK, Smith LP, Galipeau PC, Paulson TG, Reid BJ, Li X, Wilkes D, Sboner A, Mosquera JM, Elemento O, Imielinski M

The DNA methylation landscape of advanced prostate cancer.

Nature genetics

Zhao SG, Chen WS, Li H, Foye A, Zhang M, Sjöström M, Aggarwal R, Playdle D, Liao A, Alumkal JJ, Das R, Chou J, Hua JT, Barnard TJ, Bailey AM, Chow ED, Perry MD, Dang HX, Yang R, Moussavi-Baygi R, Zhang L, Alshalalfa M, Laura Chang S, Houlahan KE, Shiah YJ, Beer TM, Thomas G, Chi KN, Gleave M, Zoubeidi A, Reiter RE, Rettig MB, Witte O, Yvonne Kim M, Fong L, Spratt DE, Morgan TM, Bose R, Huang FW, Li H, Chesner L, Shenoy T, Goodarzi H, Asangani IA, Sandhu S, Lang JM, Mahajan NP, Lara PN, Evans CP, Febbo P, Batzoglou S, Knudsen KE, He HH, Huang J, Zwart W, Costello JF, Luo J, Tomlins SA, Wyatt AW, Dehm SM, Ashworth A, Gilbert LA, Boutros PC, Farh K, Chinnaiyan AM, Maher CA, Small EJ, Quigley DA, Feng FY

Next-generation characterization of the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia.

Nature

Ghandi M, Huang FW, Jané-Valbuena J, Kryukov GV, Lo CC, McDonald ER, Barretina J, Gelfand ET, Bielski CM, Li H, Hu K, Andreev-Drakhlin AY, Kim J, Hess JM, Haas BJ, Aguet F, Weir BA, Rothberg MV, Paolella BR, Lawrence MS, Akbani R, Lu Y, Tiv HL, Gokhale PC, de Weck A, Mansour AA, Oh C, Shih J, Hadi K, Rosen Y, Bistline J, Venkatesan K, Reddy A, Sonkin D, Liu M, Lehar J, Korn JM, Porter DA, Jones MD, Golji J, Caponigro G, Taylor JE, Dunning CM, Creech AL, Warren AC, McFarland JM, Zamanighomi M, Kauffmann A, Stransky N, Imielinski M, Maruvka YE, Cherniack AD, Tsherniak A, Vazquez F, Jaffe JD, Lane AA, Weinstock DM, Johannessen CM, Morrissey MP, Stegmeier F, Schlegel R, Hahn WC, Getz G, Mills GB, Boehm JS, Golub TR, Garraway LA, Sellers WR

The long tail of oncogenic drivers in prostate cancer.

Nature genetics

Armenia J, Wankowicz SAM, Liu D, Gao J, Kundra R, Reznik E, Chatila WK, Chakravarty D, Han GC, Coleman I, Montgomery B, Pritchard C, Morrissey C, Barbieri CE, Beltran H, Sboner A, Zafeiriou Z, Miranda S, Bielski CM, Penson AV, Tolonen C, Huang FW, Robinson D, Wu YM, Lonigro R, Garraway LA, Demichelis F, Kantoff PW, Taplin ME, Abida W, Taylor BS, Scher HI, Nelson PS, de Bono JS, Rubin MA, Sawyers CL, Chinnaiyan AM, Schultz N, Van Allen EM

Exome Sequencing of African-American Prostate Cancer Reveals Loss-of-Function ERF Mutations.

Cancer discovery

Huang FW, Mosquera JM, Garofalo A, Oh C, Baco M, Amin-Mansour A, Rabasha B, Bahl S, Mullane SA, Robinson BD, Aldubayan S, Khani F, Karir B, Kim E, Chimene-Weiss J, Hofree M, Romanel A, Osborne JR, Kim JW, Azabdaftari G, Woloszynska-Read A, Sfanos K, De Marzo AM, Demichelis F, Gabriel S, Van Allen EM, Mesirov J, Tamayo P, Rubin MA, Powell IJ, Garraway LA

Assigning clinical meaning to somatic and germ-line whole-exome sequencing data in a prospective cancer precision medicine study.

Genetics in medicine : official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics

Ghazani AA, Oliver NM, St Pierre JP, Garofalo A, Rainville IR, Hiller E, Treacy DJ, Rojas-Rudilla V, Wood S, Bair E, Parello M, Huang F, Giannakis M, Wilson FH, Stover EH, Corsello SM, Nguyen T, Rana HQ, Church AJ, Lowenstein C, Cibulskis C, Amin-Mansour A, Heng J, Brais L, Santos A, Bauer P, Waldron A, Lo P, Gorman M, Lydon CA, Welch M, McNamara P, Gabriel S, Sholl LM, Lindeman NI, Garber JE, Joffe S, Van Allen EM, Gray SW, Ja Nne PA, Garraway LA, Wagle N

Rapid Intraoperative Molecular Characterization of Glioma.

JAMA oncology

Shankar GM, Francis JM, Rinne ML, Ramkissoon SH, Huang FW, Venteicher AS, Akama-Garren EH, Kang YJ, Lelic N, Kim JC, Brown LE, Charbonneau SK, Golby AJ, Sekhar Pedamallu C, Hoang MP, Sullivan RJ, Cherniack AD, Garraway LA, Stemmer-Rachamimov A, Reardon DA, Wen PY, Brastianos PK, Curry WT, Barker FG, Hahn WC, Nahed BV, Ligon KL, Louis DN, Cahill DP, Meyerson M

Comprehensive, Integrative Genomic Analysis of Diffuse Lower-Grade Gliomas.

The New England journal of medicine

Brat DJ, Verhaak RG, Aldape KD, Yung WK, Salama SR, Cooper LA, Rheinbay E, Miller CR, Vitucci M, Morozova O, Robertson AG, Noushmehr H, Laird PW, Cherniack AD, Akbani R, Huse JT, Ciriello G, Poisson LM, Barnholtz-Sloan JS, Berger MS, Brennan C, Colen RR, Colman H, Flanders AE, Giannini C, Grifford M, Iavarone A, Jain R, Joseph I, Kim J, Kasaian K, Mikkelsen T, Murray BA, O'Neill BP, Pachter L, Parsons DW, Sougnez C, Sulman EP, Vandenberg SR, Van Meir EG, von Deimling A, Zhang H, Crain D, Lau K, Mallery D, Morris S, Paulauskis J, Penny R, Shelton T, Sherman M, Yena P, Black A, Bowen J, Dicostanzo K, Gastier-Foster J, Leraas KM, Lichtenberg TM, Pierson CR, Ramirez NC, Taylor C, Weaver S, Wise L, Zmuda E, Davidsen T, Demchok JA, Eley G, Ferguson ML, Hutter CM, Mills Shaw KR, Ozenberger BA, Sheth M, Sofia HJ, Tarnuzzer R, Wang Z, Yang L, Zenklusen JC, Ayala B, Baboud J, Chudamani S, Jensen MA, Liu J, Pihl T, Raman R, Wan Y, Wu Y, Ally A, Auman JT, Balasundaram M, Balu S, Baylin SB, Beroukhim R, Bootwalla MS, Bowlby R, Bristow CA, Brooks D, Butterfield Y, Carlsen R, Carter S, Chin L, Chu A, Chuah E, Cibulskis K, Clarke A, Coetzee SG, Dhalla N, Fennell T, Fisher S, Gabriel S, Getz G, Gibbs R, Guin R, Hadjipanayis A, Hayes DN, Hinoue T, Hoadley K, Holt RA, Hoyle AP, Jefferys SR, Jones S, Jones CD, Kucherlapati R, Lai PH, Lander E, Lee S, Lichtenstein L, Ma Y, Maglinte DT, Mahadeshwar HS, Marra MA, Mayo M, Meng S, Meyerson ML, Mieczkowski PA, Moore RA, Mose LE, Mungall AJ, Pantazi A, Parfenov M, Park PJ, Parker JS, Perou CM, Protopopov A, Ren X, Roach J, Sabedot TS, Schein J, Schumacher SE, Seidman JG, Seth S, Shen H, Simons JV, Sipahimalani P, Soloway MG, Song X, Sun H, Tabak B, Tam A, Tan D, Tang J, Thiessen N, Triche T, Van Den Berg DJ, Veluvolu U, Waring S, Weisenberger DJ, Wilkerson MD, Wong T, Wu J, Xi L, Xu AW, Yang L, Zack TI, Zhang J, Aksoy BA, Arachchi H, Benz C, Bernard B, Carlin D, Cho J, DiCara D, Frazer S, Fuller GN, Gao J, Gehlenborg N, Haussler D, Heiman DI, Iype L, Jacobsen A, Ju Z, Katzman S, Kim H, Knijnenburg T, Kreisberg RB, Lawrence MS, Lee W, Leinonen K, Lin P, Ling S, Liu W, Liu Y, Liu Y, Lu Y, Mills G, Ng S, Noble MS, Paull E, Rao A, Reynolds S, Saksena G, Sanborn Z, Sander C, Schultz N, Senbabaoglu Y, Shen R, Shmulevich I, Sinha R, Stuart J, Sumer SO, Sun Y, Tasman N, Taylor BS, Voet D, Weinhold N, Weinstein JN, Yang D, Yoshihara K, Zheng S, Zhang W, Zou L, Abel T, Sadeghi S, Cohen ML, Eschbacher J, Hattab EM, Raghunathan A, Schniederjan MJ, Aziz D, Barnett G, Barrett W, Bigner DD, Boice L, Brewer C, Calatozzolo C, Campos B, Carlotti CG, Chan TA, Cuppini L, Curley E, Cuzzubbo S, Devine K, DiMeco F, Duell R, Elder JB, Fehrenbach A, Finocchiaro G, Friedman W, Fulop J, Gardner J, Hermes B, Herold-Mende C, Jungk C, Kendler A, Lehman NL, Lipp E, Liu O, Mandt R, McGraw M, Mclendon R, McPherson C, Neder L, Nguyen P, Noss A, Nunziata R, Ostrom QT, Palmer C, Perin A, Pollo B, Potapov A, Potapova O, Rathmell WK, Rotin D, Scarpace L, Schilero C, Senecal K, Shimmel K, Shurkhay V, Sifri S, Singh R, Sloan AE, Smolenski K, Staugaitis SM, Steele R, Thorne L, Tirapelli DP, Unterberg A, Vallurupalli M, Wang Y, Warnick R, Williams F, Wolinsky Y, Bell S, Rosenberg M, Stewart C, Huang F, Grimsby JL, Radenbaugh AJ, Zhang J

Whole-exome sequencing and clinical interpretation of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor samples to guide precision cancer medicine.

Nature medicine

Van Allen EM, Wagle N, Stojanov P, Perrin DL, Cibulskis K, Marlow S, Jane-Valbuena J, Friedrich DC, Kryukov G, Carter SL, McKenna A, Sivachenko A, Rosenberg M, Kiezun A, Voet D, Lawrence M, Lichtenstein LT, Gentry JG, Huang FW, Fostel J, Farlow D, Barbie D, Gandhi L, Lander ES, Gray SW, Joffe S, Janne P, Garber J, MacConaill L, Lindeman N, Rollins B, Kantoff P, Fisher SA, Gabriel S, Getz G, Garraway LA