John M. Essigmann

John M. Essigmann is a Professor of Toxicology and Biological Engineering and Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He serves as Director of the MIT T32 Training Grant in Toxicology and previously led the Center for Environmental Health Sciences and the Department of Chemistry as Associate Head. His research focuses on understanding how DNA lesions caused by carcinogens, antitumor agents, and radiation lead to mutations, cancer, or cell death. Key areas include: (1) DNA repair mechanisms and mutagenic consequences of adducts; (2) cisplatin’s antitumor action via transcription factor decoy mechanisms; and (3) development of 'fatal engineered' therapeutics targeting tumor-specific proteins.

Research Highlights:

• Studies how DNA adducts evade repair to induce mutations
• Investigates cisplatin’s interaction with transcription factors like hUBF
• Designs tumor-specific drugs with bifunctional molecular recognition domains

Recent work emphasizes programmable therapeutics for cancers (e.g., glioblastoma, prostate cancer) using DNA-damaging agents linked to tumor protein binders. His lab has also advanced understanding of aflatoxin B1 mutagenicity and paraquat-induced oxidative damage.

Grants & Leadership: Current director of the T32 Environmental Toxicology Grant; past director of MIT’s Center for Environmental Health Sciences. Collaborates extensively with chemists and biologists across MIT’s departments.

Labs/Teams: Essigmann Lab in MIT’s Chemistry & Biological Engineering Departments, focusing on interdisciplinary chemical biology and toxicology research.