Mark A. Rubin is a practicing genitourinary pathologist, who joined Weill Cornell Medical College in July 2007, as a Professor in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. The focus of Dr. Rubin's laboratory-based research for the past 10 years has been the development of molecular prostate cancer biomarkers to help distinguish indolent from aggressive disease (http://rubinlab.med.cornell.edu/). He has over 170 peer-reviewed publications, predominantly in the area of prostate cancer, multiple U.S. and international patents for molecular biomarkers, and over the past few years has been the Principle Investigator of 3 R01 grants, a U01 grant, a Prostate SPORE Project and a Department of Defense Idea Award, all in the area of prostate cancer progression. His work relies on close collaboration with researchers in the fields of urology, medical oncology, clinical outcomes, and molecular biology. His laboratory uses a variety of techniques including RT-PCR, laser capture microdissection, high-density tissue microarrays, SNP arrays, tiling arrays, and cDNA expression arrays in combination with clinical and pathology parameters to identify significant associations. Significant work published in Nature(1, 2) and JAMA (3) identified novel biomarkers including hepsin, pim-1 kinase, ERG, MTA1, Jagged1, EZH2, and alpha-methlyacyl-CoA racemase (AMACR). These studies also represent the cornerstone of his on-going collaboration with Arul M. Chinnaiyan at the University of Michigan.

The development of a critical infrastucture and translational research team led to the recent landmark discovery identifying the Fusion of TMPRSS2 and ETS Family of Transcription Factors in Prostate Cancer(4-7). By applying a new bioinformatics approach, these novel translocations were discovered, which are believed to be the most common translocation yet described in any solid tumor. The TMPRSS2-ETS gene fusion appears to be one of the earliest events involving prostate cancer invasion and leads to the over expression of the fused ETS gene in an androgen-regulated manner. The patent rights are shared between the University of Michigan and the BWH, and Gen-Probe has licensed the rights to commercially develop urine- and tissue-based tests. Dr. Rubin's group working in close collaboration with investigators from Sweden and Todd Golub at Harvard have also recently developed a potential drug target for TMPRSS2-ETS fusion prostate cancer. This on-going work has the potentially of influencing the clinical care of the approximately 250,000 diagnosed each year in the United States with prostate cancer.

Dr. Rubin had been the pathology core director at the University of Michigan and the Dana Farber Harvard Prostate Cancer SPORE. He established the Tissue Microarray Core at both the University of Michigan and Harvard Dana-Farber Cancer Centers. He has focused nationally on the development of standards in the field of translational research in the setting of collaborative work as part of the Prostate Cancer SPORE. Dr. Rubin was selected by the PIs of the 11 Prostate Cancer SPOREs to lead the task force assigned with the development of the National Biospecimens Network (NBN) pilot project, which is moving forward after a three-year development phase. He serves as an ad hoc reviewer for multiple publications including Nature, the New England Journal of Medicine, PNAS, and Cancer Research. He has served on the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Molecular Biology and Genetics study section (4 years) and was recently appointed as a permanent member of the Cancer Biomarker Study Section at the NCI. He has also been selected to serve as an External Reviewer for the National Cancer Institutes Pathology Laboratory Intramural program. Dr. Rubin also was the Co-Chair of an NCI-sponsored workshop that lead to guidelines in biobanking, which were recently published in the federal registry. Dr. Rubin is a member of the WHO tumor blue book committee on genitourinary pathology and is the recipient of both the Arthur Purdy Stout Society of Surgical Pathologists Annual Prize (2003) and the Young Investigator Award (2004) given by the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology recognizing his contributions to the field of pathology. Finally, Dr. Rubin was a co-team leader for the First Annual American Association of Cancer Research Team Science Award (2007) in recognition for their groundbreaking work on TMPRSS2-ETS fusion prostate cancer.

1. Dhanasekaran SM, Barrette TR, Ghosh D, Shah R, Varambally S, Kurachi K, Pienta KJ, Rubin MA, Chinnaiyan AM. Delineation of prognostic biomarkers in prostate cancer. Nature 2001 Aug 23; 412(6849):822-6.
2. Varambally S, Dhanasekaran SM, Zhou M, Barrette TR, Kumar-Sinha C, Sanda MG, Ghosh D, Pienta KJ, Sewalt RG, Otte AP, Rubin MA, Chinnaiyan AM. The polycomb group protein EZH2 is involved in progression of prostate cancer. Nature 2002 Oct 10; 419(6907):624-9.
3. Rubin MA, Zhou M, Dhanasekaran SM, Varambally S, Barrette TR, Sanda MG, Pienta KJ, Ghosh D, Chinnaiyan AM. alpha-Methylacyl coenzyme A racemase as a tissue biomarker for prostate cancer. Jama 2002 Apr 3; 287(13):1662-70.
4. Demichelis F, Fall K, Perner S, Andren O, Schmidt F, Setlur SR, Hoshida Y, Mosquera JM, Pawitan Y, Lee C, Adami HO, Mucci LA, Kantoff PW, Andersson SO, Chinnaiyan AM, Johansson JE, Rubin MA. TMPRSS2:ERG gene fusion associated with lethal prostate cancer in a watchful waiting cohort. Oncogene 2007 Jan 22.
5. Perner S, Demichelis F, Beroukhim R, Schmidt FH, Mosquera JM, Setlur S, Tchinda J, Tomlins SA, Hofer MD, Pienta KG, Kuefer R, Vessella R, Sun XW, Meyerson M, Lee C, Sellers WR, Chinnaiyan AM, Rubin MA. TMPRSS2:ERG Fusion-Associated Deletions Provide Insight into the Heterogeneity of Prostate Cancer. Cancer Res 2006 Sep 1; 66(17):8337-41.
6. Tomlins SA, Mehra R, Rhodes DR, Smith LR, Roulston D, Helgeson BE, Cao X, Wei JT, Rubin MA, Shah RB, Chinnaiyan AM. TMPRSS2:ETV4 gene fusions define a third molecular subtype of prostate cancer. Cancer Res 2006 Apr 1; 66(7):3396-400.
7. Tomlins SA, Rhodes DR, Perner S, Dhanasekaran SM, Mehra R, Sun XW, Varambally S, Cao X, Tchinda J, Kuefer R, Lee C, Montie JE, Shah RB, Pienta KJ, Rubin MA, Chinnaiyan AM. Recurrent fusion of TMPRSS2 and ETS transcription factor genes in prostate cancer. Science 2005 Oct 28; 310(5748):644-8.