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Christopher Hammell

Christopher Hammell

Professor
Cancer Center Member

Ph.D., Dartmouth Medical School, 2002

chammell@cshl.edu | 516-367-5207

Faculty Profile

As organisms develop, genes turn on and off with a precise order and timing, much like the order and duration of notes in a song. My group uses model organisms to understand the molecules that control the tempo of development. We also study how changes in the timing of gene expression contribute to diseases like cancer.

Christopher Hammell’s lab is interested in understanding gene regulatory processes that give rise to robust phenotypes associated with normal development in animals (specifically, how the timing of developmental processes is controlled) as well as the alterations in these pathways that give rise to diseases such as cancer (as in the alterations in mitogenic pathways in melanoma). Hammell and colleagues approach this elemental problem by using a variety of model organisms and patient-derived cancer cell lines. To directly identify the components that function in controlling normal developmental timing, they use the small nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, applying forward and reverse genetic approaches. In contrast to the extreme robustness of cell-fate lineage in C. elegans, in which specification of developmental programs is hard-wired, mutations that alter conserved signaling pathways in melanoma create relatively plastic developmental landscapes that allow these lesions to become aggressive tumors. Notably, the gene regulatory architecture of melanoma cells allows them to acquire resistance to therapeutic agents. Hammell’s team is interested in epigenetic mechanisms that contribute to resistance, specifically dramatic changes in gene expression patterns and intracellular signaling pathways. They are performing high-throughput screens to identify cellular factors that allow these re-wiring events to occur, with the idea that these components would make ideal therapeutic targets to complement existing clinical strategies.

    image of Cold Spring Harbor campus from across the harbor with At the Lab podcast logo and portrait of Christopher Hammell

    At the Lab Episode 10: The time of our lives

    June 4, 2024

    “You wouldn’t start making the fingernails on an arm until you had started to make the arm,” says CSHL’s Christopher Hammell. How’s that for a visual?


    A quiz for the ages

    January 29, 2024

    Want to know the secret to a long life? So do CSHL scientists. Take this short quiz to see what they’ve found out about aging and longevity.


    image of the video slide for First look whole-body gene expression

    First look: Whole-body gene expression

    November 6, 2023

    For the first time, scientists at CSHL have observed gene expression as it occurs throughout an animal. See life take shape in front of your eyes.


    Image of C. elegans worms

    These worms have rhythm

    September 5, 2023

    Observing gene expression in real time, CSHL scientists identified four molecules the C. elegans worm relies on to set the tempo of its development.


    Photo of 2023 CSHL SBS Graduates

    CSHL celebrates 20th graduating class

    May 9, 2023

    Friends, family, and faculty applauded 11 Ph.D. recipients at the CSHL School of Biological Sciences’ 2023 commencement.


    photo of the CSHL SBS 2022 graduating class and honorees

    CSHL 19th graduating class celebrated

    May 2, 2022

    In May 2022, the CSHL School of Biological Sciences awarded 10 Doctor of Philosophy degrees and two honorary degrees.


    photo of the 2014 URPS volleyball team

    URP: Summer camp for undergrads

    July 29, 2021

    The Undergraduate Research Program brings college students from around the world to CSHL for a summer of research and fun.


    photo of roundworm embryos

    How roundworms decide the time is right

    December 22, 2020

    Roundworm embryos calibrate the speed of their development to environmental conditions. A similar system may go wrong in some cancers.


    Cristina Aguirre-Chen

    Rally for medical research Capitol Hill Day

    September 30, 2014

    Cristina Aguirre-Chen, Ph.D., a postdoc in Assistant Professor Chris Hammell’s lab discusses her experience at the Rally for Medical Research.


    C. elegans worm

    In development, it’s all about the timing

    July 17, 2014

    Closely related organisms share most of their genes, but these similarities belie major differences in behavior, intelligence, and physical appearance


See all Hammell news

All Publications

Dynamic compartmentalization of the pro-invasive transcription factor NHR-67 reveals a role for Groucho in regulating a proliferative-invasive cellular switch in C. elegans

1 Dec 2023 | eLife | 12:RP84355
Medwig-Kinney, Taylor;  Kinney, Brian;  Martinez, Michael;  Yee, Callista;  Sirota, Sydney;  Mullarkey, Angelina;  Somineni, Neha;  Hippler, Justin;  Zhang, Wan;  Shen, Kang;  Hammell, Christopher;  Pani, Ariel;  Matus, David;  

A circadian-like gene network programs the timing and dosage of heterochronic miRNA transcription during C. elegans development

22 Aug 2023 | Developmental Cell | :S1534-5807(23)00402
Kinney, Brian;  Sahu, Shubham;  Stec, Natalia;  Hills-Muckey, Kelly;  Adams, Dexter;  Wang, Jing;  Jaremko, Matt;  Joshua-Tor, Leemor;  Keil, Wolfgang;  Hammell, Christopher;  

An expandable FLP-ON::TIR1 system for precise spatiotemporal protein degradation in Caenorhabditis elegans

1 Feb 2023 | Genetics | :iyad013
Xiao, Yutong;  Yee, Callista;  Zhao, Chris;  Martinez, Michael;  Zhang, Wan;  Shen, Kang;  Matus, David;  Hammell, Christopher;  

An expandable FLP-ON::TIR1 system for precise spatiotemporal protein degradation in C. elegans

2022 | bioRxiv
Xiao, Yutong;  Yee, Callista;  Martinez, Michael;  Zhao, Chris;  Zhang, Wan;  Shen, Kang;  Matus, David;  Hammell, Christopher;  

PQN-59 antagonizes microRNA-mediated repression during post-embryonic temporal patterning and modulates translation and stress granule formation in C. elegans

Nov 2021 | PLoS Genetics | 17(11):e1009599
Carlston, Colleen;  Weinmann, Robin;  Stec, Natalia;  Abbatemarco, Simona;  Schwager, Francoise;  Wang, Jing;  Ouyang, Huiwu;  Ewald, Collin;  Gotta, Monica;  Hammell, Christopher;  

PQN-59 and GTBP-1 contribute to stress granule formation but are not essential for their assembly in C. elegans embryos

18 Oct 2021 | Journal of Cell Science
Abbatemarco, Simona;  Bondaz, Alexandra;  Schwager, Francoise;  Wang, Jing;  Hammell, Christopher;  Gotta, Monica;  

An engineered, orthogonal auxin analog/AtTIR1(F79G) pairing improves both specificity and efficacy of the auxin degradation system in Caenorhabditis elegans

12 Oct 2021 | Genetics
Hills-Muckey, Kelly;  Martinez, Michael;  Stec, Natalia;  Hebbar, Shilpa;  Saldanha, Joanne;  Medwig-Kinney, Taylor;  Moore, Frances;  Ivanova, Maria;  Morao, Ana;  Ward, J;  Moss, Eric;  Ercan, Sevinc;  Zinovyeva, Anna;  Matus, David;  Hammell, Christopher;  

PQN-59 antagonizes microRNA-mediated repression and functions in stress granule formation during C. elegans development

2021 | bioRxiv
Carlston, Colleen;  Weinmann, Robin;  Stec, Natalia;  Abbatemarco, Simona;  Schwager, Francoise;  Wang, Jing;  Ouyang, Huiwu;  Gotta, Monica;  Hammell, Christopher;  

The UBAP2L ortholog PQN-59 contributes to stress granule assembly and development in C. elegans

16 Apr 2021 | bioRxiv
Abbatemarco, Simona;  Bondaz, Alexandra;  Schwager, Francoise;  Wang, Jing;  Hammell, Christopher;  Gotta, Monica;  

An Epigenetic Priming Mechanism Mediated by Nutrient Sensing Regulates Transcriptional Output during C. elegans Development

17 Dec 2020 | Current Biology
Stec, N;  Doerfel, K;  Hills-Muckey, K;  Ettorre, V;  Ercan, S;  Keil, W;  Hammell, C;  

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