- Dr. Sellers is a prominent figure in cancer research, associated with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Harvard Medical School.
- He has contributed significantly to cancer genomics, particularly in identifying EGFR mutations in lung cancer and MITF as an oncogene in melanoma.
- Dr. Sellers' early academic influences and career in medicine were shaped by his education and experiences at institutions like Georgetown University and the University of California, San Francisco.
- His work at Novartis involved pioneering genetic and genomic approaches to cancer therapy, leading to the development of a cancer cell line encyclopedia and the approval of several drugs for clinical trials.
- Dr. Sellers returned to academia in 2017, focusing on collaboration and innovative research methods such as combination CRISPR screens.
- He emphasizes the importance of understanding why some patients achieve cures and aims to explore gene activators as potential therapeutics.
- Dr. Sellers balances his professional life with personal interests such as cycling, hiking, cooking, and spending time with his family.
William Sellers
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Harvard
melanoma
First person profile: William Sellers, MD
Summary
Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dr. Sellers is a core member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a senior advisor to the president for experimental therapeutics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and a professor of medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. He is widely recognized for his groundbreaking findings in cancer genomics and therapeutic drug discovery and his research that homes in on the functions of tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes and cancer's molecular pathways through the use of high-throughput genetic sequencing and other methods.
In the early 2000s, Dr. Meyerson, who is also a member of the Broad Institute and is currently the director of the Center for Cancer Genome Discovery at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, partnered with Dr. Sellers on a gene sequencing project. “Bill and I were talking about cancer genomes, and he said, ‘We should sequence the kinase genes where we might find something that's immediately treatable and could make a big difference in cancer,’” Dr. Meyerson recalls. “Bill has a lot of scientific courage—he just dives right in and is not deterred by anything.”
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William Sellers, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard, melanoma
