Stefan N. Constantinescu

Stefan N. Constantinescu is Professor of Cancer Signalling at the University of Oxford's Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Head of the Cell Signalling Pole at Université catholique de Louvain’s de Duve Institute, and Director of Research (Honorary) at FRS-FNRS Belgium. He serves on the European Research Council’s advanced grants panels and leads the Constantinescu research group focused on blood cancer mechanisms.

His research investigates signaling pathways in myeloid malignancies, particularly how cytokine receptor mutations (JAK-STAT), epigenetic regulators, and chromatin dynamics drive chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) and their progression to acute leukaemia. Key objectives include elucidating mutant calreticulin mechanisms, thrombopoietin receptor dysregulation, and chromosome 21 amplification in blast-phase transformation.

His group's publication trends reveal intense focus on MPN pathogenesis through structural biology approaches, with recent work establishing secreted mutant calreticulins as rogue cytokines and identifying DYRK1A as a therapeutic target in blast-phase transformation. The research consistently bridges basic molecular mechanisms with clinical translation in haematological malignancies.

Awards and honors include:

• Full Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium
• President of the Federation of European Academies of Medicine (2021-2024)

Professor Constantinescu advises DPhil students including Sara Abdel Malak and Nandini Mozumdar while leading collaborative research across Oxford and Louvain. His group maintains active grants exploring signaling-epigenetic crosstalk in blood cancers, with recent funding supporting chromothripsis and DYRK1A overexpression studies. The team includes postdoctoral fellow Akbar Shahid and utilizes advanced genomic and structural methodologies.

The Constantinescu lab operates within Oxford's Ludwig Cancer Research branch, leveraging the Medical Sciences Division's infrastructure for translational cancer research. Current work focuses on targeting epigenetic dysregulation during MPN progression to secondary acute myeloid leukaemia.