Tobias Janowitz
Assistant Professor
Cancer Center Member
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 principle 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
Research matters
June 8, 2021
Innovative research and educational activities never stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic.
CSHL designs at-home clinical trial for COVID-19 treatment
January 29, 2021
Adapting a cancer symptom tracker, researchers designed a statistically valid and completely at-home clinical trial for COVID-19 patients.
CSHL faculty Endeavor Awards: Cancer changes the whole body
January 6, 2021
Tobias Janowitz and Semir Beyaz won the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research’s first Endeavor Award for studying cancer as a whole body phenomenon.
Calibrating kidney function for cancer patients
December 10, 2020
Doctors frequently assess how well the kidneys work, but standard tests are not always accurate for cancer patients.
Giving the immune system a double boost against cancer
October 30, 2020
Immunotherapy enhances the body’s own defenses to kill cancer. A new regimen may increase the utility of these types of drugs.
Cancer researchers discuss COVID-19’s effect on the field
July 27, 2020
Dr. David Tuveson and Dr. Tobias Janowitz discuss in Cancer Discovery how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed cancer research.
Applying symptom tracking to COVID-19 outpatient care using famotidine
June 4, 2020
Researchers from CSHL and Northwell Health are developing a way to test promising COVID-19 drugs, like famotidine, by tracking outpatient symptoms.
Historic building—groundbreaking science
October 29, 2019
The Demerec building has been monumental in scientific history. Now, a $75 million renovation of this celebrated labspace will define CSHL’s future.
A new way to look at cancer with Tobias Janowitz—A Cocktails and Chromosomes talk
October 10, 2019
Given the errors that happen every time our cells divide, why don’t we get cancer all the time? Dr. Janowitz explained that and more over a beer.
Event: Cocktails & Chromosomes – “Whole body systems and cancer”
August 27, 2019
Why don’t we all have cancer all of the time? Join us at the brewery and hear Dr. Janowitz discuss his work to understand how the whole body’s response to cancer may hold the key to future treatments.
- 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
Building publication list.