Nickolas Papadopoulos, PhD

Johns Hopkins Affiliations:

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty

Languages

English

Gender

Male

About Nickolas Papadopoulos

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Oncology

Background

Dr. Nickolas Papadopoulos is a professor of oncology, pathology and human genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research focuses on cancer biology, genetics and diagnostics. Dr. Papadopoulos is internationally known as a co‐discoverer of the genetic basis of the predisposition to hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC), one of the most common hereditary forms of cancer, earlier in his career. He was part of the interdisciplinary team that was first to sequence all of the protein coding genes, determine genetic alterations and construct expression profiles of four common tumor types. Later he was involved in the identification of genetic alterations that drive tumorigenesis in multiple tumor types. His noteworthy discoveries include the identification of novel mutations in chromatin remodeling genes in ovarian clear cell carcinomas and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

He is currently engaged in translating the genetic information derived from cancer genome analyses to clinical applications in early detection, diagnosis and monitoring of cancer. He is a co-developer of sensitive methods for the detection of tumor DNA in liquid biopsy. Dr. Papadopoulos developed Cancer SEEK, a blood test for the early detection of multiple cancers, and notably he lead the first prospective interventional trial utilizing a multi-cancer test using liquid biopsy. He is the co-founder of a number of companies, two of which develop diagnostics for cancer.

Dr. Papadopoulos received his B.S. from Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki in Greece. He earned his M.S. in biology at the University of Houston and his Ph.D. in biomedical sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He completed a Fogerty Fellowship at the National Institute on Aging and a postdoctoral fellowship in oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Papadopoulos joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2005.

He serves as an advisor to Science Translational Medicine, the board of Cancer Discovery, and editor-in-chief of Cancer Prevention Research (AACR). His work has been recognized with multiple AACR Team Science Awards, the Dr. George N. Papanicolaou Award from the Hellenic Medical Society and the Director’s Teaching Award in Laboratory-Based Science from Johns Hopkins.

Centers and Institutes

Videos

Reducing Cancer Deaths - Nickolas Papadopoulos, Ph.D.

Additional Academic Titles

Professor of Pathology

Research Interests

Cancer Biology, Cancer Pathology, Molecular Genetics, diagnostics

Research Summary

Dr. Nickolas Papadopoulos research is currently focused on utilizing genetic information for developing approaches to target cancers and to detect cancers. The research is especially focus on the early detection of cancer in the screening setting for both high risk and average risk individuals and for the monitoring of disease during clinical management.

Selected Publications

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/nickolas.papadopoulos.2/bibliography/public/

My Bibliography - NCBI (nih.gov)
Douville C, Lahouel K, Kuo A, Grant H, Avigdor BE, Curtis SD, Summers M, Cohen JD, Wang Y, Mattox A, Dudley J, Dobbyn L, Popoli M, Ptak J, Nehme N, Silliman N, Blair C, Romans K, Thoburn C, Gizzi J, Schoen RE, Tie J, Gibbs P, Ho-Pham LT, Tran BNH, Tran TS, Nguyen TV, Goggins M, Wolfgang CL, Wang TL, Shih IM, Lennon AM, Hruban RH, Bettegowda C, Kinzler KW, Papadopoulos N, Vogelstein B, Tomasetti C. Machine learning to detect the SINEs of cancer. Sci Transl Med. 2024 Jan 24;16(731):eadi3883. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adi3883. Epub 2024 Jan 24. PMID: 38266106.
Cohen JD, Douville C, Dudley JC, Mog BJ, Popoli M, Ptak J, Dobbyn L, Silliman N, Schaefer J, Tie J, Gibbs P, Tomasetti C, Papadopoulos N*, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B. Detection of low-frequency DNA variants by targeted sequencing of the Watson and Crick strands. Nat Biotechnol. Oct:39 (10); 1220-1227. 2021 May 3. doi: 10.1038/s41587-021-00900-z. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33941929.
Tie J, Cohen JD, Lahouel K, Lo SN, Wang Y, Kosmider S, Wong R, Shapiro J, Lee M, Harris S, Khattak A, Burge M, Harris M, Lynam J, Nott L, Day F, Hayes T, McLachlan SA, Lee B, Ptak J, Silliman N, Dobbyn L, Popoli M, Hruban R, Lennon AM, Papadopoulos N, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B, Tomasetti C, Gibbs P; DYNAMIC Investigators. Circulating Tumor DNA Analysis Guiding Adjuvant Therapy in Stage II Colon Cancer. N Engl J Med. 2022 Jun 16;386(24):2261-2272. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2200075. Epub 2022 Jun 4.PMID: 35657320.
A.-M. Lennon, A.-H. Buchanan, I. Kinde, A. Warren, A. Honushefsky, A.-T. Cohain, D.-H. Ledbetter, F. Sanfilippo, K. Sheridan, D. Rosica, C.-S. Adonizio, H.-J. Hwang, K. Lahouel, J.-D. Cohen, C. Douville, A.-A. Patel, L.-N. Hagmann, D.-D. Rolston, N. Malani, S. Zhou, C. Bettegowda, D.-L. Diehl, B. Urban, C.-D. Still, L. Kann, J.-I. Woods, Z.-M. Salvati, J. Vadakara, R. Leeming, P. Bhattacharya, C. Walter, A. Parker, C. Lengauer, A. Klein, C. Tomasetti, E.-K. Fishman, R.-H. Hruban, K.-W. Kinzler, B. Vogelstein, N. Papadopoulos. Feasibility of blood testing combined with PET-CT to screen for cancer and guide intervention. Science 369 6499:eabb9601 (2020).
Y Wang, L. Li, C. Douville, J.-D. Cohen, T.-T. Yen, I. Kinde, K. Sundfelt, S.-K. Kjær, R.-H. Hruban, I.M. Shih, T.-L. Wang, R.-J. Kurman, S. Springer, J. Ptak, M. Popoli, J. Schaefer, N. Silliman, L. Dobbyn, E.-J. Tanner, A. Angarita, M. Lycke, K. Jochumsen, B. Afsari, I. Danilova, D.-A. Levine, K. Jardon, X. Zeng, J. Arseneau, L. Fu, L.-A. Diaz Jr, R. Karchin, C. Tomasetti, K.-W. Kinzler, B. Vogelstein, A.-N. Fader, L. Gilbert, N. Papadopoulos. Evaluation of liquid from the Papanicolaou test and other liquid biopsies for the detection of endometrial and ovarian cancers. Sci Transl Med. 10, eaap8793 (2018).
J.-D. Cohen, L. Li, Y. Wang, C. Thoburn, B. Afsari, L. Danilova, C. Douville, A.-A. Javed, F. Wong, A. Mattox, R.-H. Hruban, C.-L. Wolfgang, M.-G. Goggins, M. Dal Molin, T.-L. Wang, R. Roden, A.-P. Klein, J. Ptak, L. Dobbyn, J.Schaefer, N. Silliman, M. Popoli, J.-T. Vogelstein, J.-D. Browne, R.-E. Schoen, R.-E. Brand, J. Tie, P. Gibbs,H.-L. Wong, A.-S. Mansfield, J. Jen, S.-M. Hanash, M. Falconi, P.-J. Allen, S. Zhou, C. Bettegowda, J.-A. Diaz Jr., C. Tomasetti, K.-W, Kinzler, B. Vogelstein, A.-M. Lennon, N. Papadopoulos. Detection and localization of surgically resectable cancers with a multi-analyte blood test. Science 359, 926-930 (2018).
C. Bettegowda, M. Sausen, R.-J. Leary, I. Kinde, Y. Wang, N. Agrawal, B.-R. Bartlett, H. Wang, B. Luber, R.-M. Alani, E. Antonarakis, N.-S. Azad, A. Bardelli, H. Brem, J.-L. Cameron, C.-C. Lee, L.-A. Fecher, G.-L. Gallia, P. Gibbs, D. Le, R.-L. Giuntoli, M. Goggins, M.-D. Hogarty, M. Holdhoff, S.-M. Hong, Y. Jiao, H.-H. Juhl, J.-J. Kim, G. Siravegna, D.-A. Laheru, C. Lauricella, M. Lim, E.J. Lipson, S.-K. Nagahashi Marie, G.-J. Netto GJ, K. Oliner, A. Olivi, L. Olsson, G.-J. Riggins, A. Sartore-Bianchi A, Schmidt K, Shih IM, Oba-Shinjo SM, Siena S, Dan Theodorescu D, Tie J, Harkins TT, S. Veronese, T.-L. Wang, J.-D. Weingart, C-L. Wolfgang, L.-D. Wood, D. Xing, R.-H. Hruban, J. Wu, P.J. Allen, C.-M. Schmidt, M.-A. Choti, V.-E. Velculescu, K.-W. Kinzler, B. Vogelstein, N Papadopoulos**, L.-A. Diaz Jr. Detection of Circulating Tumor DNA in Early- and Late- Stage Human Malignancies. Science Translation Medicine 6, 224ra24 (2014).
Vogelstein B, Papadopoulos N, Velculescu VE, Zhou S, Diaz LA Jr, Kinzler KW. Cancer genome landscapes. Science 2013; 339:1546-58. PIMD: 2359594.
S. Jones, T.-L. Wang, I.-M. Shih, T.-L. Mao, K. Nakayama, R. Roden, D. Slamon, L.-A. Diaz Jr, B. Vogelstein, K.-W. Kinzler, V.-E. Velculescu, N. Papadopoulos. Frequent mutations of chromatin remodeling gene ARID1A in ovarian clear cell carcinoma. Science 300, 228-31 (2010).
C.-M. Heaphy, R.-F. de Wilde, Y. Jiao, A.-K. Klein, B.-H. Edil, C. Shi, C. Bettegowda, F.-J. Rodriguez, C.-G. Eberhart, S. Hebbar, G.-J. Offerhaus, R. McLendon, B.-A. Rasheed, Y. He, H. Yan, D.-D. Bigner, S.-M. Oba-Shinjo, S.-K. Marie, G.-J. Riggins, K.-W. Kinzler, B. Vogelstein, R.-H. Hruban, A. Maitra, N. Papadopoulos**, A.-K. Meeker. Altered telomeres in tumors with ATRX and DAXX mutations. Science 333, 425(2011).
Y. Jiao, C. Shi, B.-H. Edil, R.-F. de Wilde, D.-S. Klimstra, A. Maitra, R.-D. Schulick, L.-H. Tang, C.-L. Wolfgang, M.-H. Choti, V.-E. Velculescu, L.-A. Diaz Jr, B. Vogelstein, K.-W. Kinzler, R.-H. Hruban, N. Papadopoulos. DAXX/ATRX, MEN1 and mTOR Pathway Genes are Frequently Altered in Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors. Science 331, 1199-203 (2011).
J. Yun, C. Rago, I. Cheong, R. Pagliarini, P. Angenendt, H. Rajagopalan, K. Schmidt, J.-K. Willson, S. Markowitz, S. Zhou, L.-A. Diaz Jr, V.-E. Velculescu, C. Lengauer, K.-W. Kinzler, B. Vogelstein, N. Papadopoulos. Glucose deprivation contributes to the development of KRAS pathway mutations in tumor cells. Science 325, 1555-1559 (2009).
N. Papadopoulos, B. Vogelstein, K.-W. Kinzler. The role of companion diagnostics in the development and use of mutation-targeted cancer therapies. Nature Biotechnology 24, 985-995 (2006).
N. Papadopoulos, N.-C. Nicolaides, Y.-F. Wei, S.-M. Rube, K.-C. Carter, C.-A. Rosen, W.-A. Haseltine,R.-D. Fleishcmann, C.-M. Fraser, M.-D. Adams, J.-C. Venter, S.-R. Hamilton, G.-M. Petersen, P. Watson, H.-T. Lynch, P. Peltomaki, J.-P. Mecklin, A. de la Chappelle, K.-W Kinzler, B. Vogelstein. Mutations of a mutL homolog in hereditary colon cancer. Science 263, 1625-1629 (1994).

Courses & Syllabi

Advanced Topics in Human Genetics, Johns Hopkins University, 1/1/08 - 1/1/16

Honors

Dr. George N. Papanicolau Award, The Hellenic Medical Society, 1/1/19
Annual Lauren T. Erb Lecture, Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation, 1/1/18
Team Science Award, AACR, 1/1/17
Director's Teaching Award in Laboratory-Based Science, Johns Hopkins, 1/1/17
Team Science Award, AACR, 1/1/14
Team Science Award, AACR, 1/1/13
Commonwealth Award, 1/1/11
Carrying for Carcinoid Foundation Award, 1/1/11
Carrying for Carcinoid Foundation Award, 1/1/09
SPORE Career Award, 1/1/07
V Foundation Award, 1/1/00
CapCURE Young Investigator Award, 1/1/98
W. Barry Wood, Jr. Prize for Postdoctoral Investigation, 1/1/97
Fogerty Fellowship, 1/1/92