Peter Westcott
Assistant Professor
Cancer Center Member
Ph.D., University of California San Francisco, 2015
westcott@cshl.edu |
Faculty ProfileThe mutational processes that drive cancer also expose it to the immune system. Therapies that invigorate anticancer immunity can be astonishingly effective, but only in a subset of patients. We are developing powerful new strategies to study how the immune system and cancer coevolve, with the goal of expanding the curative potential of immunotherapy to more patients.
Our group studies how the immune system shapes tumor evolution during initiation, malignant transformation, and metastasis—the major cause of cancer mortality. Cancer progresses through sequential genetic and epigenetic aberrations, following Darwinian principles of natural selection. During clonally selective sweeps—population explosions of the most “fit” cancer cells—the molecular and cellular architecture of the tumor and its tissue niche are restructured. We aim to understand how immunosurveillance fails at these critical junctures using a multidisciplinary approach at the interface of cancer genomics and immunology. Central to our approach are next-generation mouse models that capture the mutational complexity and immune interactions of human cancer. We engineer into these models powerful genetic switches that allow us to control the precise timing of tumor selective events and immune perturbations in vivo. Combined with longitudinal tumor sampling, advanced imaging, single cell and spatial omics, and other emerging technologies, these models enable us to deconstruct the spatiotemporal dynamics of tumor-immune crosstalk.
2015 – 2019 Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellowship
2018 – 2018 Peter Karches Mentorship Award
2013 – 2015 NCI Ruth L. Kirschtein National Research Service Award F31
2010 – 2013 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
2010 – 2011 The Long Award for Excellence in Teaching, UCSF School of Pharmacy
CSHL celebrates 50th anniversary of McClintock Laboratory
November 20, 2023
Fifty years ago, CSHL honored Barbara McClintock by dedicating a building in her name. Today, it is home to four innovative cancer labs.
In cancer immunotherapy, more isn’t necessarily better
September 14, 2023
CSHL Assistant Professor Peter Westcott may have discovered why immunotherapy often fails in certain colon cancer treatments.
Immunologist Peter Westcott joins CSHL faculty
September 12, 2022
The Westcott lab explores how the immune system shapes tumor evolution, with the goal of developing new cancer immunotherapies.
Selected Publications
Mismatch repair deficiency is not sufficient to elicit tumor immunogenicity
14 Sep 2023 | Nature Genetics
Westcott, Peter; Muyas, Francesc; Hauck, Haley; Smith, Olivia; Sacks, Nathan; Ely, Zackery; Jaeger, Alex; Rideout, William; Zhang, Daniel; Bhutkar, Arjun; Beytagh, Mary; Canner, David; Jaramillo, Grissel; Bronson, Roderick; Naranjo, Santiago; Jin, Abbey; Patten, J; Cruz, Amanda; Shanahan, Sean-Luc; Cortes-Ciriano, Isidro; Jacks, Tyler;  
Low neoantigen expression and poor T-cell priming underlie early immune escape in colorectal cancer.
Oct 2021 | Nature Cancer | 2(10):1071-1085
Westcott, Peter; Sacks, Nathan; Schenkel, Jason; Ely, Zackery; Smith, Olivia; Hauck, Haley; Jaeger, Alex; Zhang, Daniel; Backlund, Coralie; Beytagh, Mary; Patten, J; Elbashir, Ryan; Eng, George; Irvine, Darrell; Yilmaz, Omer; Jacks, Tyler;  
Mismatch repair deficiency is not sufficient to increase tumor immunogenicity
2021 | bioRxiv
Westcott, Peter; Muyas, Francesc; Smith, Olivia; Hauck, Haley; Sacks, Nathan; Ely, Zackery; Jaeger, Alex; Rideout, William; Bhutkar, Arjun; Zhang, Daniel; Beytagh, Mary; Canner, David; Bronson, Roderick; Naranjo, Santiago; Jin, Abbey; Patten, J; Cruz, Amanda; Cortes-Ciriano, Isidro; Jacks, Tyler;  
Low neoantigen expression and poor T cell priming underlie early immune escape in cancer
2020 | Research Square
Westcott, Peter; Sacks, Nathan; Schenkel, Jason; Smith, Olivia; Zhang, Daniel; Hauck, Haley; Backlund, Coralie; Beytagh, Mary; Patten, J; Eng, George; Irvine, Darrell; Yilmaz, Ömer; Jacks, Tyler;  
The mutational landscapes of genetic and chemical models of Kras-driven lung cancer.
22 Jan 2015 | Nature | 517(7535):489-492
Westcott, Peter; Halliwill, Kyle; To, Minh; Rashid, Mamunur; Rust, Alistair; Keane, Thomas; Delrosario, Reyno; Jen, Kuang-Yu; Gurley, Kay; Kemp, Christopher; Fredlund, Erik; Quigley, David; Adams, David; Balmain, Allan;  
The genetics and biology of KRAS in lung cancer.
Feb 2013 | Chinese Journal of Cancer | 32(2):63-70
Westcott, Peter; To, Minh;  
All Publications
New opportunities to overcome T cell dysfunction: the role of transcription factors and how to target them
13 Sep 2024 | Trends in Biochemical Sciences
Wu, B; Koehler, A; Westcott, P;  
Claudin 18 turns up the heat in cancer
11 Jun 2024 | Immunity | 57(6):1187-1189
Zhang, Jialin; Westcott, Peter;  
The neuroendocrine transition in prostate cancer is dynamic and dependent on ASCL1
11 Apr 2024 | bioRxiv
Romero, Rodrigo; Chu, Tinyi; González-Robles, Tania; Smith, Perianne; Xie, Yubin; Kaur, Harmanpreet; Yoder, Sara; Zhao, Huiyong; Mao, Chenyi; Kang, Wenfei; Pulina, Maria; Lawrence, Kayla; Gopalan, Anuradha; Zaidi, Samir; Yoo, Kwangmin; Choi, Jungmin; Fan, Ning; Gerstner, Olivia; Karthaus, Wouter; DeStanchina, Elisa; Ruggles, Kelly; Westcott, Peter; Chaligné, Ronan; Pe'er, Dana; Sawyers, Charles;  
SOX17 enables immune evasion of early colorectal adenomas and cancers
28 Feb 2024 | Nature
Goto, Norihiro; Westcott, Peter; Goto, Saori; Imada, Shinya; Taylor, Martin; Eng, George; Braverman, Jonathan; Deshpande, Vikram; Jacks, Tyler; Agudo, Judith; Yilmaz, Ömer;