Jason Sheltzer

Jason Sheltzer is a CSHL Fellow at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s School of Biological Sciences, focusing on cancer research. His work leverages CRISPR technology to investigate aneuploidy, copy number variations, and drug target validation in cancer cells.

• Research Interests: Sheltzer explores how chromosomal abnormalities influence cancer progression, challenges traditional drug target assumptions (e.g., MELK’s non-essential role), and develops prognostic tools using genomic data.
• Key Discoveries: His studies revealed that copy number variations outperform mutation analysis in predicting cancer severity and debunked MELK’s role in tumor proliferation via CRISPR experiments.
• Awards:
  • Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award for high-risk/high-reward cancer research.
  • Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for groundbreaking work on genetic drivers of cancer.
• Labs & Teams: Sheltzer leads a research group at CSHL, collaborating with computational biologists and clinicians to translate findings into clinical tools.