Tony Letai

Dr. Tony Letai is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, specializing in apoptosis regulation in cancer cells. His research focuses on developing BH3 profiling to detect and target apoptotic evasion in tumors, with significant contributions to BCL-2 family protein studies.

• Princeton University, BSc
• University of Chicago, MD, PhD (under Elaine Fuchs)
• Harvard Medical School, Faculty Appointment

Research Interests:

• Apoptosis mechanisms in cancer progression
• BH3 profiling as predictive biomarker
• BCL-2 family protein dynamics
• Functional precision medicine applications
• Drug resistance in hematologic malignancies
• Mitochondrial priming quantification

Recent Publications: Studies span acute myeloid leukemia, triple-negative breast cancer, and mitochondrial apoptosis, with key works on BH3 mimetics, CRISPR target discovery, and RAS/MAPK resistance pathways. Collaborative research emphasizes clinical translation of apoptotic assays.

Laboratory: Leads the Letai Lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, advancing functional precision medicine approaches and mentoring graduate researchers like Thelma Mashaka and Lara Bencsics.