About
Ruth Halaban, PhD, is a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Dermatology at Yale School of Medicine. She co-directs the Biospecimen Resource Core and previously led the Yale SPORE in Skin Cancer. Her research focuses on melanoma genomics, immunobiology, and therapeutic resistance.
Academic Training:
- BA, Genetics, Hebrew University (1962)
- PhD, Molecular Biology, Princeton University (1968)
- Postdoctoral Research, State University of New York (1973) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (1971)
Research Interests span melanoma mutations, UV-induced DNA damage, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and signal transduction pathways. Her work includes NF1/BRAF/NRAS mutational analysis, RAC1 P29S discovery, and 22q11.21 amplification in acral melanoma. She investigates immune toxicity mechanisms (e.g., CD4 memory T cells, TCR diversity) and proteomic platforms for immunotherapy response prediction.
Publications highlight collaborations with Mario Sznol, Antonella Bacchiocchi, and David Rimm. Key themes include NRAS/MEK inhibition, FAK/RAF-MEK synergy, and immune-neutrophil interactions. Recent studies examine KIR+CD8+ T cell suppression and WDR5 microprotein regulation.
Labs & Teams manage Yale's melanoma biospecimen repository, performing whole exome and RNA sequencing on tumor-blood pairs. They share data globally with institutions like NIH and NCI, supporting translational melanoma research and clinical trial biomarker discovery.
