Department of Cell Biology

Joan S. Brugge, Ph.D.

Director of the Ludwig Center, Louise Foote Pfeiffer Professor of Cell Biology

Joan Brugge

Dr. Brugge is currently Director of the Harvard Ludwig Cancer Center and Professor of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School. She received her B.S. degree from Northwestern University, Ph.D. degree from the Baylor College of Medicine, and postdoctoral training at the University of Colorado with Dr. Raymond Erikson. Prior to joining Harvard (Professor 1997-present, Department Chair 2004-2014), Dr. Brugge has held professorship at the State University of New York, Stony Brook (1979- 1988), and was an HHMI investigator/professor at the University of Pennsylvania (1989-1992). Dr. Brugge was also Scientific Director of the biotechnology company ARIAD (1992-1997).

Dr. Brugge has received the NIH Merit Award, American Cancer Society Research Professorship, ASCB Senior Career Recognition Award, as well as elected memberships in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine.

Latest Lab News and Events

The Brugge Lab celebrated the holidays this year with a delicious lunch at La Morra! We had our infamous lab Yankee Swap, where Joan received a tortilla blanket (as shown in the photo). 

The lab bid farewell to Carman Li, who is starting her own lab at UPenn. Contact Carman.LiatPennMedicine.UPenn.edu (Carman) to join her team!

Congratulations to Nomeda Girnius and co-authors on their Breast Cancer Research study on Cilengitide sensitivity, done in collaboration with Augustin Luna and former postdoc Yannis Zervantonakis! 

Thumbs up to Kung-Chi Chang and co-authors on their study published in NPJ Breast Cancer! Our lab's new organoid suspension culture system can retain long-term estrogen receptor expression and responsiveness.

Congrats to Mike Oliphant and his co-authors on their recent study in Nature Genetics on copy number variations in human breast epithelial cells of BRCA1/2 mutation carriers and noncarriers!