Sadelain Lab

Principal Investigator

Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD
Director of the Columbia Initiative in Cell Engineering and Therapy (CICET)

Director of the Cancer Cell Therapy Initiative in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC)

The Sadelain Lab pioneers the development of innovative human cell therapies for cancer, genetic blood disorders, and autoimmune diseases. Renowned for its foundational role in T cell engineering and the creation of CAR T cell therapy, the lab continues to advance cell-based treatments by exploring target discovery, receptor signaling, gene regulation, and genome editing to advance new clinical applications.

Projects

Human Cell Engineering for the Treatment of a Range of Pathologies

Illustration of a CAR T cell (green) engaging a cancer cell, CD19 (blue).

The Sadelain lab focuses on human cell engineering for the treatment of a range of pathologies, including cancers, monogenic blood disorders and autoimmunity. The Sadelain lab previously made seminal contributions to the emergence of T cell engineering and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy. The Sadelain lab conceived synthetic, dual-signaling receptors for antigen, termed CARs, the redirect the specificity and reprogram the functions of T lymphocytes. Sadelain identified CD19 as a potential CAR target and provided with his team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center the first demonstration that CAR T cells targeting CD19 were effective against B cell malignancies in mice and against relapsed, refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia in patients. CD19 CAR T cells are used today to treat a range of B cell lymphomas and leukemias, and are being further evaluated for the treatment of refractory autoimmune disorders including systemic lupus erythematosus, myasthenia gravis and multiple sclerosis. The Sadelain lab has also made fundamental contributions to the treatment of inherited globin disorders, including the first demonstration that tissue-specific lentiviral vectors encoding the human ß-globin gene could effectively reverse life-threatening anemias.

The Biology of CAR T Cells

The Sadelain lab currently focuses on the biology of CAR T cells, including their sensitivity and functional persistence, the identification of suitable molecular targets for a range of hematological malignancies and solid tumors, and the establishment of animal models for investigating the treatment of cancer and autoimmunity. The approaches rely on target discovery, the study of receptor signaling, transgene regulation, stem cell differentiation, genome editing and other technologies to understand disease mechanisms, develop cell-based therapies, and translate promising strategies into first-in-human clinical trials.

About the Principal Investigator

Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD is the founding director of the Columbia Initiative in Cell Engineering and Therapy (CICET) in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. He is also Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Medicine and director of the cell therapy initiative in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. He previously founded and directed the Center for Cell Engineering at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he held the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair. He received his MD from the University of Paris, his PhD from the University of Alberta, and trained as a post-doctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute at MIT.