Steven R. Barthel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Dermatology
Co-Director, Program of Glyco-Immunology and Oncology (PGIO)
Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Cancer Immunotherapy, Immune Checkpoint Blockade, Glycobiology, Metastasis
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard
Cancer Glycobiology and Immune Trafficking
Ph.D., Biomolecular Chemistry
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Integrins in Leukocyte Adhesion/Migration
B.S., Biochemistry, Molecular Genetics
The Ohio State University
The Barthel Laboratory is led by Principal Investigator Steven R. Barthel, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in Dermatology and Co-Director of the Program of Glyco-Immunology and Oncology (PGIO) at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Barthel is a Faculty Affiliate for the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI), a Member of the Melanoma Program and Invasion, Metastasis Group at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DFHCC), and an Investigator for the Consortium for Functional Glycomics (CFG). The lab is located on the 6th floor of the Harvard Institutes of Medicine building. Dr. Barthel received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison on integrin/integrin-ligand mediated leukocyte adhesion and migration. He subsequently trained as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Dermatology, Harvard Skin Disease Research Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital investigating carbohydrate and integrin-dependent adhesion, migration and metastasis of immune and cancer cells to bone and skin. His work yielded novel glycobiological and cell adhesive insight into the traffic control machinery of cancer and catalyzed pivotal leaps in deciphering metastasis. He custom-engineered innovative carbohydate binding proteins (lectins), including galectin-IgG Fc fusion molecules, to identify and study unrecognized galectin ligands on melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and immune cells. His new galectin-fusion biologics have become versatile probes for characterizing galectin-binding proteins and galectin pathophysiological functions on tumor and immune cells, assessing galectin antibody neutralizing or stimulatory activities, and in the identification of new biomarkers for diagnosing and staging melanoma and various cancers.
Dr. Barthel’s interdisciplinary expertise and ongoing research in glycobiology, galectins, melanoma/skin cancer, cancer stem cells, signaling, metastasis and biomarkers underlies his overall career and research goals to (1) characterize carbohydrate mediators of cancer progression and immune diseases, (2) identify and develop therapies to treat and diagnose cancer and inflammation, and to (3) mentor/train the next-generation of researchers in cancer and immunology.
