Investigator, Other (M) KFCCR Faculty, Mass General Research Institute

Assistant Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School

breast cancer; breast cancer biomarkers; breast cancer clinical trials; cell cycle; chromatin; epigenetics; retinoblastoma protein

Cell cycle deregulation is a hallmark of cancer. The Sanidas laboratory investigates how cancer cells bypass cell cycle control to uncover vulnerabilities that can be targeted for new therapeutic strategies. Our research focuses on the retinoblastoma (RB) tumor suppressor protein, a key regulator of cell division. In healthy cells, RB prevents unnecessary cell proliferation, but in many cancers, its function is turned off by proteins called cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). Although RB is a universal regulator of the cell cycle, RB loss is more common in certain tumors, and CDK inhibitors benefit only a subset of patients. The Sanidas laboratory aims to understand the molecular complexity of RB function and identify the context-specific implications of RB inactivation across human cancers. Our goal is to maximize the clinical potential of the recently developed selective CDK inhibitors and guide the development of next-generation targeted therapies that restore or mimic RB’s tumor-suppressive activity.

List of selected publications:

1. Knudsen ES^*, Witkiewicz AK^*, Sanidas I^*, Rubin SM^* (2025). Targeting CDK2 for cancer therapy. Cell Reports, 2025 Aug 26;44(8):116140.

2. Sanidas I, Lawrence MS, & Dyson NJ. Patterns in the tapestry of chromatin-bound RB. Trends Cell Biol. 2023 Aug 28:S0962-8924(23)00156-3.

3. Krishnan B, Sanidas I*, Dyson NJ*. Seeing is believing: the impact of RB on nuclear organization. Cell Cycle, 2023 May 3;1-10. 

4. Sanidas I, Lee H, Rumde PH, Boulay G, Morris R, Golczer G, Stanzione M, Hajizadeh S, Zhong J, Ryan MB, Corcoran RB, Drapkin BJ, Rivera MN, Dyson NJ, Lawrence MS. Chromatin-bound RB targets promoters, enhancers, and CTCF-bound loci and is redistributed by cell-cycle progression. Mol Cell. 2022 Aug 12:S1097-2765(22)00710-9. 

5. Krishnan B, Yasuhara T, Rumde P, Stanzione M, Lu C, Lee H, Lawrence MS, Zou L, Nieman LT, Sanidas I*, Dyson NJ*. Active RB causes visible changes in nuclear organization. J Cell Biol. 2022 Mar 7;221(3):e202102144. 

6. Sanidas I, Morris R, Fella KA, Boukhali M, Tai EC, Ting DT, Lawrence MS, Hass W and Dyson NJ. "A code of mono-phosphorylation modulates the function of RB." Mol Cell 2019, Mar 7;73(5):985-1000.

* denotes equal contribution

Sanidas Laboratory Members

Kazi Islam, PhD
Connor G. McGrath
Ioannis Sanidas, PhD
Nicole J. Smith
Alice Zheng