Andrew Wolfe

• Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Hunter College of the City University of New York.
• Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medicine.
• Faculty in the CUNY Graduate Center Biochemistry PhD Program.
• Faculty in the CUNY Graduate Center Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology PhD Subprogram.

• University of California, San Francisco, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2016-2021.
• Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Department of Oncological Sciences, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2014-2016.
• Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, PhD in the Cancer Biology and Genetics Department at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 2007-2014.
• University of California, Los Angeles, Biology/Psychology, BS, 2003-2007.

• BIOL 35000: The Biology of Cancer
• BIOL 47127 and BIOL 79027: Therapeutic Resistance
• BIOL 47104 and BIOL 79004: Climate and Health

• PI: Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York Enhanced Award
• Co-PI: NSF Research and Mentoring for Postbaccalaureates in Biological Sciences
• PI: Graduate Research Technology Initiative
• PI: Oncogenuity, Inc Sponsored Research Agreement
• PI: NCI K99/R00 Transition to Independence Award
• PI: Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Postdoctoral Award

Why do so many cancers recur after seemingly successful treatment? How can understanding the biology of oncogenes lead to new therapeutic possibilities?

The Wolfe lab strives to gain a deeper understanding of how tumors depend on driver oncogenes to reprogram their growth, metabolism, and survival signals. Understanding mechanisms by which pancreatic cancers, lung cancers, and colorectal cancers develop resistance to targeted therapies is instrumental to developing innovative approaches that can improve patient outcomes. 

The lab employs techniques related to molecular biology, pharmacology, biochemistry, cancer signaling, tissue culture, large-scale screening, models of cancer, flow cytometry, CRISPR, and more. 

• Selective targeting of oncogenic KRAS G12D using peptide nucleic acid oligomers attached to cell-penetrating peptides. bioRxiv [Preprint]. April 2, 2025. Mondal J, Lam D, Gerritsen ME, Brotz TM, Kennedy JG, Rehlaender B, Ross AJ, Levy DE, Bonagura CA, Lanzilotta WN, McCormick F, Rothman JH, Wolfe AL.
• IMPlications of IMP2 in RNA Biology and Disease. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. March 7, 2025. Das J*, Busia-Bourdain O*, Khan KM, Wolfe AL.
• Effects of N361 Glycosylation on Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Biological Function. bioRxiv [Preprint]. July 16, 2024. Lam D, Arroyo B, Liberchuk AN, Wolfe AL.
• Cadherin-17 as a target for the immunoPET of adenocarcinoma. European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. April 16, 2024. Delaney S, Keinänen O, Lam D, Wolfe AL, Hamakubo T, Zeglis BM.
• KRAS: Biology, Inhibition, and Mechanisms of Inhibitor Resistance. Current Oncology. April 3, 2024. Ash LJ, Busia-Bourdain O, Okpattah D, Kamel A, Liberchuk A, Wolfe AL.
• Targeting cancer’s sweet spot: UGP2 as a therapeutic vulnerability. Molecular and Cellular Oncology. October 27, 2021. Kim S, Wolfe AL*, Kim SE*.
• UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase 2, a regulator of glycogen synthesis and glycosylation, iscritical for pancreatic cancer growth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. August 3, 2021. Wolfe AL, Zhou Q, Toska E, Galeas J, Ku AA, Koche RP, Bandyopadhyay S, Scaltriti M, Lebrilla CB, McCormick F*, Kim SE*.
• NOTCH and EZH2 collaborate to repress PTEN expression in breast cancer. Communications Biology. March 9, 2021. Pappas K, Martin TC, Wolfe AL, Nguyen CB, Su T, Jin J, Hibshoosh H, Parsons R.
• NRF2 Activation Confers Resistance to eIF4A Inhibitors in Cancer Therapy. Cancers. February 5, 2021. Sanghvi VR, Mohan P, Singh K, Cao L, Berishaj M, Wolfe AL, Schatz JH, Lailler N, de Stanchina E, Viale A, Wendel HG.
• Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator Attaches Tumor Suppressor PTEN to the Membrane and Promotes Anti Pseudomonas aeruginosa Immunity. Immunity. December 19, 2017. Riquelme SA, Hopkins BD, Wolfe AL, DiMango E, Kitur K, Parsons R, Prince A.
• Characterization of a set of tumor suppressor microRNAs in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Science Signaling. November 18, 2014. Sanghvi VR, Mavrakis KJ, Van der Meulen J, Boice M, Wolfe AL, Carty M, Mohan P, Rondou P, Socci ND, Benoit Y, Taghon T, Van Vlierberghe P, Leslie CS, Speleman F, Wendel HG.
• RNA G-quadruplexes cause eIF4A-dependent oncogene translation in cancer. Nature. September 4, 2014. Wolfe AL*, Singh K*, Zhong Y, Drewe P, Rajasekhar VK, Sanghvi VR, Mavrakis KJ, Jiang M, Roderick JE, Van der Meulen J, Schatz JH, Rodrigo CM, Zhao C, Rondou P, de Stanchina E, Teruya-Feldstein J, Kelliher MA, Speleman F, Porco JA Jr, Pelletier J, Rätsch G, Wendel HG.
• The Eph-receptor A7 is a soluble tumor suppressor for follicular lymphoma. Cell. October 28, 2011 Oricchio E, Nanjangud G, Wolfe AL, Schatz JH, Mavrakis KJ, Jiang M, Liu X, Bruno J, Heguy A, Olshen AB, Socci ND, Teruya-Feldstein J, Weis-Garcia F, Tam W, Shaknovich R, Melnick A, Himanen JP, Chaganti RS, Wendel HG.
• Targeting cap-dependent translation blocks converging survival signals by AKT and PIM kinases in lymphoma. Journal of Experimental Medicine. August 29, 2011. Schatz JH, Oricchio E, Wolfe AL, Jiang M, Linkov I, Maragulia J, Shi W, Zhang Z, Rajasekhar VK, Pagano NC, Porco JA Jr, Teruya-Feldsteim, J, Rosen N, Zelenetz AD, Pelletier J, Wendel HG.
• A cooperative microRNA-tumor suppressor gene network in acute T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) Nature Genetics. June 5, 2011. Mavrakis KJ, Van Der Meulen J, Wolfe AL, Liu X, Mets E, Taghon T, Khan AA, Setty M, Rondou P, Vandenberghe P, Delabesse E, Benoit Y, Socci NB, Leslie CS, Van Vlierberghe P, Speleman F, Wendel HG.
• Mouse models of cancer as biological filters for complex genomic data. Disease Models and Mechanisms. Nov-Dec 2010. Oricchio E, Wolfe AL, Schatz JH, Mavrakis KJ, Wendel HG.
• Genome-wide RNA-mediated interference screen identifies miR-19 targets in Notch-induced T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Nature Cell Biology. February 28, 2010. Mavrakis KJ*, Wolfe AL*, Oricchio E, Palomero T, de Keersmaecker K, McJunkin K, Zuber J, James T, Khan AA, Leslie CS, Parker JS, Paddison PJ, Tam W, Ferrando A, Wendel HG.

*Indicates co-first authorship.