Leveraging vulnerabilities created by the cancer genome to identify safe and effective therapeutic strategies for cancer patients

Our Research Focus

Our lab uses DepMap's cancer dependency datasets to move from genetic vulnerability to therapeutic target. We work across three integrated areas.

Develop and deploy functional genomics technologies to map cancer dependencies at scale.

Integrate experimental and computational approaches to prioritize dependencies by selectivity, therapeutic window, and tumor context.

Validate target mechanisms and establish the preclinical evidence needed to advance dependencies into drug discovery.

Our Team

We are a multi-disciplinary team that embraces different perspectives
and talents to accomplish shared goals.

Francisca Vazquez

TDA Group leader, Director DepMap

Kirsty Wienand

Target Discovery Group Leader

Samantha Stokes

Senior Program Manager

Judhajeet Ray

Head of Functional Genomics

Kelly Sullivan

Principal Alliance Manager

Pratik Singh

Target Discovery Project Lead

Florencia Madorsky Rowdo

Target Discovery Project Lead

Barbara De Kegel

Computational Biologist

Daniel Venooker

Project Manager

Chyna Betts

Senior Operations Specialist

Mike Kanare

Senior Operations Specialist

Andrew Tuttle

Research Associate

Konnor Yunghans

Research Associate

Anisah Adeagbo

Research Associate

Louie Hager

Research Associate

Esther Olajide

Research Associate

William DeSilva

Research Associate

Simon Kangoun

Research Associate

Nora Shanks

Research Associate

Jessica Okolo

Research Associate

Fernanda Garcia

Research Associate

Anthony Du

Research Associate

Belen Nolasco Diaz

Research Associate

Lauren Reber

Research Associate

Priya Pabla

Research Associate

Publications

Selected publications

Chronos, a cell population dynamics model of CRISPR experiments that improves inference of gene fitness effects

Dempster et al.
Genome Biology
2021

Genetic and transcriptional evolution alters cancer cell line drug response

Ben-David et al.
Nature
2018

Cancer Dependency Map: Past and present

Arafeh et al.
Annual Review of Cancer Biology
2025

Discovering the anti-cancer potential of non-oncology drugs by systematic viability profiling

Corsello et al.
Nature Cancer
2020

A dependency map enhanced with next-generation 3D cancer models

Neiswender, Maffa, Brenan et al.
Nature
2026

Generation of a biliary tract cancer cell line atlas identifies molecular subtypes and therapeutic targets

Vijay et al.
Cancer Discovery
2025

Bridging the gap between cancer cell line models and tumours using gene expression data

Noorbakhsh et al.
British Journal of Cancer
2021

Genome-Wide Interrogation of Human Cancers Identifies EGLN1 Dependency in Clear Cell Ovarian Cancers

Price et al.
Cancer Research
2019

SKI complex loss renders 9p21.3-deleted or MSI-H cancers dependent on PELO

Borck et al.
Nature
2025

Are CRISPR Screens Providing the Next Generation of Therapeutic Targets?

Vazquez et al.
Cancer Research
2021

The present and future of the Cancer Dependency Map

Arafeh et al.
Nature Reviews Cancer
2024

WRN helicase is a synthetic lethal target in microsatellite unstable cancers

Chan et al.
Nature
2019

Partial gene suppression improves identification of cancer vulnerabilities when CRISPR-Cas9 knockout is pan-lethal

Krill-Burger et al.
Genome Biology
2023

Next-generation characterization of the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia

Ghandi et al.
Nature
2019

Increased RNA and protein degradation is required for counteracting transcriptional burden and proteotoxic stress in human aneuploid cells

Ippolito et al.
Cancer Discovery
2024

Sparse dictionary learning recovers pleiotropy from human cell fitness screens

Pan et al.
Cell Systems
2022

Paralog knockout profiling identifies DUSP4 and DUSP6 as a digenic dependence in MAPK pathway-driven cancers

Ito et al.
Nature Genetics
2021

Human aneuploid cells depend on the RAF/MEK/ERK pathway for overcoming increased DNA damage

Zerbib et al.
Nature Communications
2024

Predicting cell health phenotypes using image-based morphology profiling

Way et al.
Molecular Biology of the Cell
2021

A ubiquitination cascade regulating the integrated stress response and survival in carcinomas

Cervia et al.
Cancer Discovery
2022

Dissecting context-dependent cancer vulnerabilities using Perturb-seq

Maffa et al.
bioRxiv
2026

Phosphate dysregulation via the XPR1–KIDINS220 protein complex is a therapeutic vulnerability in ovarian cancer

Bondeson, Paolella et al.
Nature
2022

Contact Us

Francisca Vazquez, PhD

Target Discovery Advancement Team
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
415 Main Street
Cambridge, MA 02142

vazquez@broadinstitute.org