Maximilian Diehn, M.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology (Radiation Therapy)

Research description: Dr. Diehn’s laboratory focuses on two main areas: 1) cancer stem cell biology and its implications for therapy and 2) development of genomics-based biomarkers for identifying the presence of malignant cells (diagnostic), predicting outcome (prognostic), and predicting response to therapy (predictive). Areas of study include cancers of the lung, breast, and gastrointestinal system, including the pancreas. They are also interested in developing a deeper molecular understanding of normal and cancer stem cells, including identifying pathways and genes important for survival and self-renewal. Additionally, Dr. Diehn’s group is developing methods for overcoming resistance mechanisms to radiotherapy and chemotherapy in cancer stem cells. They employ the tools of cancer genomics, including high throughput sequencing for detecting cancer mutations and quantifying gene expression.

Dr. Diehn’s group has collaborations with other members of the PCRG, including with Drs. A. Alizadeh, B. Visser and G. Poultsides.

Selected relevant publications (Stanford PCRG members in bold):

  1. Newman AM, Bratman SV, To J, Wynne JF, Eclov NC, Modlin LA, Liu CL, Neal JW, Wakelee HA, Merritt RE, Shrager JB, Loo BW, Alizadeh AA* (Corresponding author), Diehn M*. An ultrasensitive method for quantitating circulating tumor DNA with broad patient coverage. Nat Med. 2014 May;20(5):548-54.

  2. Newman AM, Lovejoy AF, Klass DM, Kurtz DM, Chabon JJ, Scherer F, Stehr H, Liu CL, Bratman SV, Say C, Zhou L, Carter JN, West RB, Sledge GW, Shrager JB, Loo BW Jr, Neal JW, Wakelee HA, Diehn M*, Alizadeh AA*. Integrated digital error suppression for improved detection of circulating tumor DNA. Nat Biotechnol. 2016 May;34(5):547-555.

  3. Scherer F, Kurtz DM, Newman AM, Stehr H, Craig AF, Esfahani MS, Lovejoy AF, Chabon JJ, Klass DM, Liu CL, Zhou L, Glover C, Visser BC, Poultsides GA, Advani RH, Maeda LS, Gupta NK, Levy R, Ohgami RS, Kunder CA, Diehn M*, Alizadeh AA*. Distinct biological subtypes and patterns of genome evolution in lymphoma revealed by circulating tumor DNA. Sci Transl Med. 2016;8(364):364ra155.

  4. Chabon, J. J., Simmons, A. D., Lovejoy, A. F., Esfahani, M. S., Newman, A. M., Haringsma, H. J., Kurtz, D. M., Stehr, H., Scherer, F., Karlovich, C. A., Harding, T. C., Durkin, K. A., Otterson, G. A., Purcell, W. T., Camidge, D. R., Goldman, J. W., Sequist, L. V., Piotrowska, Z., Wakelee, H. A., Neal, J. W., Alizadeh, A. A., Diehn, M. 2016. Circulating tumour DNA profiling reveals heterogeneity of EGFR inhibitor resistance mechanisms in lung cancer patients. Nature Communications 7: doi: 10.1038/ncomms11815