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Robert Darnell, MD, Neurology, New York, NY, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

RobertBDarnellMDPhD

Neurology • New York, NY

Neuroimmunology/Multiple Sclerosis, Neurooncology, Neurodegenerative

Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Heilbrunn Cancer Professor and Senior Physician

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Summary

  • Robert Darnell is the Heilbrunn Professor of Cancer Biology at The Rockefeller University and has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator since 2002. He is Senior Physician at the RU Hospital and an Adjunct Attending Neuro-Oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. His work on disease mechanisms of paraneoplastic neurologic degenerations (PNDs), manifest by tumor immunity and autoimmune brains disease, and together with his clinical mentor Jerome Posner co-authored the authoritative book on PNDs. His translational work led to the basic discovery that neurons have unique systems for regulating RNA metabolism, and the development of CLIP, now the gold-standard method to study RNA regulation in vivo, with which he has made breakthrough contributions to our understanding of neurologic disease including Fragile-X intellectual disability and autism. Dr. Darnell is the Founding Director and CEO emeritus of the New York Genome Center, a not-for-profit academic consortium, where between 2013-2016 he organized a Board of Directors headed by the Presidents of 12 major academic medical centers, raising nearly $300M to build and equip a state-of the art genome center, 12 Full time and Associate faculty members, including Harold Varmus, and hire a team of over 200 to run the basic and clinical sequencing, compute and informatics facility. He raised academic funds from many sources, including as Principle Investigator of an NIH-funded grant for the NY Center for Collaborative Research in Common Disease Genomics ($44.5M). His work has been recognized by numerous awards, including the Derek Denny- Brown Neurological Scholar Award, the Burroughs Wellcome Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research, and the NIH Directors Transformative Research Award. He is a Member of both the National Academies of Sciences and of Medicine, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

    • Robert B. Darnell, MD, PhD | HHMI

    Robert Darnell wants to understand how proteins regulate RNA and thereby affect gene expression. Darnell and his team are particularly interested in neurons--

    Robert Darnell is an American neurooncologist and neuroscientist, founding director and former CEO of the New York Genome Center, the Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Professor of Cancer Biology at The Rockefeller University,[5] and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His research into rare autoimmune brain diseases led to the invention of the HITS-CLIP method to study RNA regulation, and he is developing ways to explore the regulatory portions—known as the "dark matter"—of the human genome.[6]

    At The Rockefeller University Darnell is head of the Laboratory of Molecular Neuro-Oncology,[5] and Senior Physician at the Rockefeller University Hospital,[7] has been an HHMI Investigator since 1992,[8] and an Adjunct Attending Neuro-Oncologist at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He was named to the New York Genome Center position on November 28, 2012 a position he held through 2016.[9] His publications can be found via Google Scholar and his ORCID ID 0000-0002-5134-8088.

    Darnell's early research was concentrated on paraneoplastic syndromes (PNDs, the paraneoplastic neurologic disorders), disorders touching on various clinical and basic aspects of biology including cancer immunology and neuroimmunology. He was the first to definitively demonstrate that naturally occurring tumor immunity in humans was caused by antigen-specific cytotoxic (CD8+) T cells, helping to generate the foundation for the field of immuno-oncology.[10] His lab was the first to use PND patient antisera to screen expression cDNA libraries to identify the genes encoding the PND antigens.[11][12] This opened the door to the cloning of the Nova,[13] cdr2 and Elavl (Hu) antigens, and led Darnell to hypothesize, based on the intracellular nature of the antigens, that tumor immunity was mediated by CD8+ T cells.[14] His laboratory went on to prove this hypothesis, demonstrating cdr2-specific CD8+ T cells were present in the peripheral blood[10] and cerebrospinal fluid[15] of patients with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration associated with tumor immunity to breast or ovarian cancers.

    Robert B. Darnell

    Robert Darnell is an American neurooncologist and neuroscientist, founding director and former CEO of the New York Genome Center, the Robert and Harriet Heilbru

Education & Training

  • New York Presbyterian Hospital (Cornell Campus)
    New York Presbyterian Hospital (Cornell Campus)Residency, Neurology, 1987 - 1990
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai/Mount Sinai Hospital
    Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai/Mount Sinai HospitalResidency, Internal Medicine, 1985 - 1987
  • Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
    Washington University in St. Louis School of MedicineClass of 1985

Certifications & Licensure

  • NY State Medical License
    NY State Medical License 1986 - 2024
  • American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology Neurology

Awards, Honors, & Recognition

  • Elected Member American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2019
  • Outstanding Investigator Award National Institute for Neurologic Disease and Stroke, 2016
  • Elected member National Academy of Sciences, 2014
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Clinical Trials

Publications & Presentations

PubMed

Journal Articles

  • NOVA1 acts as an oncogenic RNA-binding protein to regulate cholesterol homeostasis in human glioblastoma cells  
    Yuhki Saito, Yanhong Yang, Misa Saito, Christopher Y. Park, Kosuke Funato, Viviane Tabar, Robert B. Darnell, PNAS, 2/28/2024

Press Mentions

  • PCR Testing Can Help Clarify Confusion over COVID-19 Rebound and Isolation
    PCR Testing Can Help Clarify Confusion over COVID-19 Rebound and IsolationAugust 10th, 2022
  • I Got a 'Mild' Breakthrough Case. Here's What I Wish I'd Known
    I Got a 'Mild' Breakthrough Case. Here's What I Wish I'd KnownSeptember 12th, 2021
  • Fully-Vaccinated Man Dies from COVID-19
    Fully-Vaccinated Man Dies from COVID-19August 18th, 2021
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Grant Support

  • Investigator AwardHoward Hughes Medical Institute2002–2025
  • RNA Dysregulation In ALSNational Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke2009–2010
  • Neurology And The Molecular Role Of N-Rbps In The BrainNational Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke1998–2010
  • Prostate Cancer ImmunotherapyNational Cancer Institute2003–2007
  • Tolerance Versus Tumor Immunity In PNDNational Center For Research Resources2004–2005
  • Preclinical Studies For The Development Of Primary Brain Tumor VaccinesNational Center For Research Resources2004–2005
  • Immunotherapy Of The Paraneoplastic SyndromesNational Center For Research Resources2004–2005
  • Autologous Dcs Pulsed With Apoptotic Tumor Cells In Prostate CancerNational Center For Research Resources2004–2005
  • Structure/Function Studies Of Rbps In Neurologic DiseaseNational Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke2001–2005
  • Tolerance Versus Tumor Immunity In PNDNational Cancer Institute2001–2005
  • Tumor Immunity To Paraneoplastic Neurologic Disease AntigensNational Center For Research Resources1999–2002
  • Immunotherapy Of Paraneoplastic SyndromesNational Center For Research Resources1999–2002
  • Killer T Cell Activity In Paraneoplastic Neurologic SyndromeNational Center For Research Resources1997–2002
  • Immunotherapy Of The Paraneoplastic HU SyndromeNational Center For Research Resources1997
  • Neurology And The Molecular Role Of N Rbp'S In The BrainNational Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke1995–1997
  • Molecular Biology Of Neural Plasticity And Growth ControNational Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke1994
  • Molecular Biology Of Neural Plasticity &Growth ControlNational Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke1992–1993
  • Molecular Biology Of Neural Plasticity &Growth ControlNational Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke1992
  • Molecular Biology Of Neural Plasticity &Growth ControlNational Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke1990–1991

Committees

  • Advisory to Mayor de Blasio and DOH, COVID-19 Testing Innovation Council, NYC EDC 2020 - 2022
  • Member, NINDS Advisory Council 2011 - 2014

Professional Memberships

  • Association of American Physicians
    Member
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science
    Member
  • National Academy of Medicine
    Member
  • National Academy of Sciences
    Member
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    Member

Hospital Affiliations

Dr. Robert Darnell, Dr. Robert Darnell, MD, Dr. R Darnell, Dr. Robert B Darnell