LSP Research Projects

Individual LSP research projects engage faculty, students, and fellows with diverse skills from multiple institutions. Breakthrough research is a primary goal of the lab (followed by publication in leading scientific journals), but we also invest heavily in the development and maintenance of software and the invention of fundamentally new approaches to pre-clinical and clinical pharmacology. Multiple programs use our methods for discovering and developing new drugs to treat the most challenging indications (e.g., drug-resistant cancer, pain, and neurodegeneration). 

LSP Center Programs

Many of our projects are supported with funding from multi-investigator “center” grants:

The Center for Cancer Systems Pharmacology (CCSP) studies the responsiveness and resistance of human tumors to anticancer drugs as well as the adverse effects that they cause. Part of the National Cancer Institute Center for Cancer Systems Biology Consortium.

The HMS LINCS Center collects and disseminates data and analytical tools needed to understand how human cells respond to perturbation by drugs, the environment, and mutation. Part of the NIH Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures (LINCS) Program.

The Harvard Tissue Atlas is developing methods to precisely profile the microenvironments of diverse human tumors. Supported by the NIH, Ludwig Cancer Research Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Gray Foundation, and the Rossy Foundation.

The HMS PCA Center collects and analyzes highly multiplexed single cell data on early melanomas to better understand factors that promote their progression. Part of the NCI Human Tumor Atlas Network (HTAN).

Developing next generation diagnostics and immunoprofiling methods using digital pathology and AI

The LSP has developed new highly multiplexed imaging methods and computational tools that enable deep molecular interrogation of tumor-immune interactions and the development of next-generation diagnostics for precision cancer care.

Repurposing drugs to treat Alzheimer’s Disease

LSP investigators working with the Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the MGH are developing new approaches to treat Alzheimer's Disease based on the hypothesis that the disease has multiple distinct etiologies, some involving degeneration-associated chronic inflammation.

Identifying the determinants of sensitivity and resistance to small molecule kinase inhibitors

Kinase inhibitors are an intensively studied class of therapeutics with many remaining unknowns – LSP investigators use them to develop new approaches for identifying targets and to study the factors determining drug resistance and sensitivity.

Using deep learning to model drug-target engagement

LSP investigators are contributing to and benefiting from the rapid advances in deep learning that are revolutionizing data analysis, protein structure prediction, and our ability to invent new drugs.

Developing Cures for Tuberculosis

Through a close collaboration with Tufts Medical School, LSP scientists are using computational approaches, animal models, and deep profiling of TB granulomas to understand how mechanisms of combination therapy and improve treatment approaches.

Identifying New Non-Opioid Therapeutics for Pain

LSP investigators are developing novel non-opioid treatments for pain with greater long-term efficacy and lower potential for abuse.

Using Knowledge Assembly to Enable Network Biology

The LSP is developing new knowledge assembly systems to dramatically improve how we extract causal and mechanistic information from published literature.

Improving the performance and interpretation of cancer trials

The LSP is engaged in a wide-ranging project to understand the causes of success and failure in cancer clinical trials and develop improved computational methods for early-phase trials that can help predict trial success.