Chad J Brenner

Dr. Chad J. Brenner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Pharmacology at the University of Michigan Medical School. He also directs the U-M Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology, the Otolaryngology Clinical Laboratory (CLIA), and the Head & Neck Oncology Program. His research focuses on developing liquid biopsy tools for cancer detection and precision therapy, particularly in HPV-driven head and neck cancers. Key roles include membership in the Rogel Cancer Center, Kresge Hearing Research Institute, and Center for Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics.

Education: B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, M.S. in Bioelectrical Engineering, and Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan, with doctoral work on prostate cancer mechanisms.

Research Interests:

• HPV integration and cancer heterogeneity
• Urine- and blood-based liquid biopsies for real-time cancer monitoring
• Combination immunotherapy strategies for improving checkpoint inhibitor responses
• Genetic engineering to identify cancer vulnerabilities
• Clinical trial innovation for adaptive therapies

Recent Work Highlights: Development of the MyHPVscore blood test for HPV-related head and neck cancer detection, and exploration of tumor-immune interactions through PD-L1 and T-cell profiling. Ongoing projects include PET-guided radiotherapy optimization and multi-omics analyses of tumor heterogeneity.

Labs & Teams: Leads the Michigan Otolaryngology and Translational Oncology (MiOTO) lab and collaborates with interdisciplinary teams across computational medicine, immunology, and clinical oncology.