Tobias Janowitz
Associate Professor
Cancer Center Program Co-Leader
M.D., Ph.D., University of Cambridge, UK, 2007
janowitz@cshl.edu | 516-367-8422
Cancer is a systemic disease. Using both laboratory and clinical research, my group investigates the connections between metabolism, endocrinology, and immunology to discover how the body’s response to a tumor can be used to improve treatment for patients with cancer.
How do tumors interact with the biology of the host system? What can we learn from studying the physiology and biochemistry of the host system in the context of cancer? These are principal questions that drive the research in my laboratory. For example, we investigate the convergence of systemic metabolic stress, endocrinology, and suppressed anti-cancer immunity to discover mechanism-based strategies for combination therapy for patients with cancer. We have shown that interleukin-6 induced metabolic stress is sufficient to downregulate hepatic ketogenesis. This causes significant systemic stress during periods of caloric deficiency that are often part of the cancer care pathway. The resulting elevation of glucocorticoids suppresses anti-tumor immunity in model systems of pancreatic cancer. Using clinical samples and data, we have shown correlative findings of weight loss, reduced ketogenesis, and elevated glucocorticoids in patients with pancreatic cancer. Our work, therefore, confirms that cancer cannot be understood and probably not be treated, by investigating tumors in isolation. We use findings like these to develop strategies for interventional studies with the aim to improve outcome for patients with cancer.
Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist Award
Wellcome Trust Translational Medicine and Therapeutics Academic Clinical Lectureship
Boehringer Ingelheim Fond PhD Fellowship
German National Merit Scholarship
The CSHL School of Biological Sciences’ class of 2025
May 5, 2025
The School of Biological Sciences awarded Ph.D. degrees to nine students this year. Read some of their stories and reflections on their time at CSHL.
It’s not you—it’s cancer
April 10, 2025
CSHL Associate Professor Tobias Janowitz and colleagues discover the brain-body connection underlying apathy in the late stages of cancer.
Rohini Guin elected president of APSA
March 10, 2025
Guin, an M.D.-Ph.D. candidate in the Janowitz lab, will serve a three-year term on the student-led organization’s Executive Committee.
Janowitz elected to ASCI
January 27, 2025
As a physician-scientist at CSHL, Tobias Janowitz has led early-phase clinical trials to develop therapeutic strategies for patients with cancer.
At the Lab Season 1 Research Rewind: Genetics
October 22, 2024
It’s the code for all life on Earth. This week At the Lab, we’re hacking it with the help of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s geneticists.
At the Lab Episode 23: Cured with CRISPR
September 10, 2024
Victoria Gray, the first person ever cured of sickle cell, appeared on a DNA Learning Center panel featuring a clinical scientist from CSHL.
Cocktails & Chromosomes: The whole-body health spectrum
August 22, 2024
How can a tiny tumor, often no larger than a penny, have such a big impact? CSHL’s Tobias Janowitz unpacks a complicated but highly relatable issue.
President’s essay: The continuous cycle of discovery
May 30, 2024
CSHL President & CEO Bruce Stillman discusses our institution’s societal impacts and global connections as forces for further scientific progress.
Better cancer trials could be around the corner
March 21, 2024
CSHL researchers have developed a new data-driven approach that cancer centers may use to expand patient recruitment efforts.
How diet may impact cancer and possible treatments
February 1, 2024
Researchers at the CSHL Cancer Center study the links between disease and nutrition in hopes of uncovering new treatment and prevention strategies.
- Cancer, host metabolism, and immunotherapy
- Tumors reprogram the liver, causing wasting and short-circuiting body’s immune response
- Weight loss condition provides insight into failure of cancer immunotherapies
- From cancer evolution to targeting faulty genetics – our new fellows
- In Accordance With Our Best Estimates
- New Model for Estimating Glomerular Filtration Rate and Accurately Dosing Carboplatin in Cancer Patients
- New way of predicting kidney function could improve chemotherapy dosing for many cancer patients
- You made a difference – December 2012
Selected Publications
Cancer: The Tumor-Driven Disease of the Host
3 Jul 2018 | Cell Metabolism | 28(1):5-6
Janowitz, T;
A type III complement factor D deficiency: Structural insights for inhibition of the alternative pathway
Jul 2018 | Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology | 142(1):311-314.e6
Sng, C; O'Byrne, S; Prigozhin, D; Bauer, M; Harvey, J; Ruhle, M; Challis, B; Lear, S; Roberts, L; Workman, S; Janowitz, T; Magiera, L; Doffinger, R; Buckland, M; Jodrell, D; Semple, R; Wilson, T; Modis, Y; Thaventhiran, J;
Rapid disease progression in a patient with mismatch repair-deficient and cortisol secreting adrenocortical carcinoma treated with pembrolizumab
21 Jun 2018 | Seminars in Oncology
Casey, R; Giger, O; Seetho, I; Marker, A; Pitfield, D; Boyle, L; Gurnell, M; Shaw, A; Tischowitz, M; Maher, E; Chatterjee, V; Janowitz, T; Mells, G; Corrie, P; Challis, B;
A comparative analysis of immune privilege in pregnancy and cancer in the context of checkpoint blockade immunotherapy
26 Mar 2018 | Seminars in Oncology
Flint, T; Jones, J; Ferrer, M; Colucci, F; Janowitz, T;
Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Underutilize Immune Response Monitoring
Jan 2018 | Oncologist | 23(1):116-117
Connell, C; Raby, S; Beh, I; Flint, T; Williams, E; Fearon, D; Jodrell, D; Janowitz, T;
All Publications
Cancer-Associated Cachexia: Bridging Clinical Findings with Mechanistic Insights in Human Studies
29 Apr 2025 | Cancer Discovery | :OF1-OF26
Koh, Kexin; Scott, Rachel; Cespedes Feliciano, Elizabeth; Janowitz, Tobias; Goncalves, Marcus; White, Eileen; Laird, Barry; Haase, Kerstin; Jamal-Hanjani, Mariam;
A neuroimmune circuit mediates cancer cachexia-associated apathy
11 Apr 2025 | Science | 388(6743):eadm8857
Zhu, Xiaoyue; Starosta, Sarah; Ferrer, Miriam; Hou, Junxiao; Chevy, Quentin; Lucantonio, Federica; Muñoz-Castañeda, Rodrigo; Zhang, Fengrui; Zang, Kaikai; Zhao, Xiang; Fiocchi, Francesca; Bergstrom, Mason; Siebels, Aubrey; Upin, Thomas; Wulf, Michael; Evans, Sarah; Kravitz, Alexxai; Osten, Pavel; Janowitz, Tobias; Pignatelli, Marco; Kepecs, Adam;
Hepatic gluconeogenesis and PDK3 upregulation drive cancer cachexia in flies and mice
Apr 2025 | Nature Metabolism | 7(4):823-841
Liu, Ying; Dantas, Ezequiel; Ferrer, Miriam; Miao, Ting; Qadiri, Mujeeb; Liu, Yifang; Comjean, Aram; Davidson, Emma; Perrier, Tiffany; Ahmed, Tanvir; Hu, Yanhui; Goncalves, Marcus; Janowitz, Tobias; Perrimon, Norbert;
Reply to: Overcoming Barriers to Cancer-Associated Cachexia Diagnosis and Management
13 Mar 2025 | JCO Oncology Practice | :OP2500108
Goncalves, Marcus; Janowitz, Tobias;
Autophagy Suppresses CCL2 to Preserve Appetite and Prevent Lethal Cachexia
24 Feb 2025 | bioRxiv
Ibrahim, Maria; Gomez-Jenkins, Maria; Scheinfeld, Adina; Zhao, Zhengqiao; Lopes, Eduardo; Sawant, Akshada; Hu, Zhixian; Dharani, Aditya; Sun, Michael; Siddiqui, Sarah; Mirek, Emily; Abram-Saliba, Johan; Lattime, Edmund; Su, Xiaoyang; Janowitz, Tobias; Goncalves, Marcus; Dunn, Steven; Pritykin, Yuri; Anthony, Tracy; Rabinowitz, Joshua; White, Eileen;