Ruben D. Carrasco, MD, PhD | Carrasco Lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dr. Ruben Carrasco is a physician-scientist in the Department of Pathology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a Professor at Harvard Medical School as well as Associate Member at the Broad Institute. He also practices pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He earned his medical and doctoral degrees from the University of Chile in Santiago and completed residency training in Surgical Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a Hematopathology Fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

During his postdoctoral training at Bristol-Myers Squibb and later at Dana-Farber, Dr. Carrasco studied the role of the NF-kB/Rel family in lymphoid development and cancer, identified the genomic landscape of multiple myeloma, and investigated the role of BCL9 amplification in various cancers. His research spans diverse areas, including gastric and colorectal cancer, therapeutic vulnerabilities in myeloma and lymphoma, and the role of microRNAs in cancer initiation.

His lab has developed therapeutic approaches targeting the BCL9/β-catenin interaction as a potential cancer treatment. A major focus of his current work is understanding the oncogenic impact of 6q deletion and MYD88 mutation using genetically engineered mouse models in the context of Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia and ABC-DLBCL.

Dr. Carrasco leads several research grants and works to translate his findings into improved diagnostic tools and targeted therapies, collaborating widely to advance cancer care.