Benjamin Schrank
Assistant Professor
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center at Houston
Department of Radiation Oncology
The primary research focus of the Schrank Lab is to enhance the immune system’s ability to detect and eliminate tumors that resist traditional immunotherapies. Our lab achieves this goal by targeting genome instability and applying principles of bioengineering to design therapies that overcome innate immune evasion and drug resistance. We are particularly interested in how aberrant DNA structures and processes, including extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) and chromothripsis, reshape the tumor microenvironment and disrupt immune sensing pathways in macrophages and dendritic cells. To counter these effects, we engineer antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and mRNA-loaded extracellular vesicles (EVs) that drive innate and adaptive antitumor immunity and long-term immune surveillance. Our research integrates DNA repair biology, tumor immunology, and therapeutic engineering and leverages genomics, live-cell imaging, and single-cell profiling to link genomic architecture to immune behavior. Current projects include engineering novel immunostimulatory therapies that eliminate glioma, sarcoma, colorectal, and breast tumors. Another project focuses on understanding how genome instability in premalignant tissues drives tumor progression. During a 10-week tutorial, students will gain hands-on experience in immune tumor co-culture assays, in vivo modelling, translational therapeutic development, and multi-omic data analysis. Our lab combines techniques in genomics, transcriptomics, molecular biology, in vitro cell culture, and in vivo mouse tumor models to dissect mechanisms of drug action and immune resistance.
Education & Training
MD, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, 2020
PhD, Columbia University College, 2019