Samuel G. Katz

Samuel G. Katz is an Associate Professor of Pathology at Yale School of Medicine, where he specializes in hematopathology, diagnosing blood cancers including lymphoma, leukemia, and myeloma. He serves as principal investigator of the Katz Lab, focusing on cell death mechanisms and immunotherapy development, while also contributing to patient care as an active hematopathologist at Yale New Haven Hospital.

Dr. Katz earned his combined B.S./M.S. from Yale University in 1995, followed by dual M.D., Ph.D. training through the Health Sciences & Technology program administered by MIT and Harvard. His Ph.D. thesis with Stuart H. Orkin focused on transcriptional regulation of hematopoiesis. He completed residency in pathology and fellowship in hematopathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and post-doctoral studies on apoptosis with Loren D. Walensky at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

His research centers on the BCL-2 protein family, particularly BOK, which resides in one of the 20 most frequently deleted genomic regions in human cancers. His lab investigates how BCL-2 proteins regulate cell death pathways and their roles in cancer development, maintenance, and chemoresistance. The lab also develops synthetic engineering approaches to improve adoptive cellular therapy, reprogramming human T cells, NK cells, and TILs using mRNA techniques developed with collaborator Sherman M. Weissman.

Dr. Katz's recent publications reveal a strong focus on CAR-T cell therapy, with numerous 2023-2024 papers exploring novel approaches to enhance immunotherapy efficacy against lymphomas and solid tumors. His work bridges basic science of cell death mechanisms with translational applications in cancer treatment, particularly through optimizing cellular immunotherapies and understanding resistance mechanisms.

• Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium Member (2011)
• Career Development Award, Mentored (K08) from NIH, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (2010)
• Post-Doctoral Fellow, Career Development Award from Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (2008)
• Yamaguchi Award in Hematology Research from Children's Hospital, Boston MA (1999)
• Pre-Doctoral Fellow Award from Howard Hughes Medical Institute (1998)

Dr. Katz actively mentors graduate students and postdoctoral associates in the Katz Lab, where his team employs conditional mouse knockouts, biochemistry, and genetic screening to unravel cellular signaling pathways. His lab has received NIH funding, including a recent grant to study BOK protein's role in the cell death pathway. Through collaborations with Yale New Haven Hospital's Advanced Cell Therapy core and clinical oncologists, his research maintains strong translational relevance to cancer treatment.

The Katz Lab operates within Yale's robust research ecosystem, with connections to the Yale Cancer Center, Yale Center for Immuno-Oncology, and Cooperative Center of Excellence in Hematology. The lab's multidisciplinary approach combines molecular biology, immunology, and clinical pathology to develop therapeutic strategies that overcome blocks in apoptosis and enhance cancer immunotherapy.