Christopher Vakoc

Christopher Vakoc is a molecular biologist and a professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. He then attained his M.D. and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. His PhD research was performed with Gerd Blobel on the regulation of gene expression during hematopoiesis.

Career and research Vakoc uses CRISPR/Cas9 technology to probe the epigenetic regulation of cancer and to identify new cancer drug targets. By studying cancer epigenetics, Vakoc has also identified a new subtype of lung cancer and has discovered how gene expression changes affect metastasis in pancreatic cancer.

Recently, Vakoc has developed a CRISPR screening approach to identify the protein domains that are most important for cancer growth.

Awards and honors American Association for Cancer Research Outstanding Achievement Award, 2015 Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance Prize, 2016