Michel W. Sadelain

Biography
Sadelain is a globally recognized pioneer of chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) immunotherapy, a groundbreaking approach to cancer treatment. CAR-T therapy uses genetic engineering on a sample of a patients own T cells to transform them into living drugs for the treatment of their disease. Sadelain led the development of CAR-T cells targeting CD19 unique markers found on the surface of blood cancer cellsand established genetic engineering and cell manufacturing capabilities to translate this research. This critical groundwork enabled Sadelain and his team to start treating patients with refractory leukemias in 2007. In 2017, the FDA approved the first CAR-T therapiesthe first genetically engineered cell therapy of any kindfor childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia and certain lymphomas. This ushered in a new class of drugs based on T cell engineering. Since then, CAR-T therapies have been approved for additional types of lymphoma and to multiple myeloma. Sadelain and his team are continuing to explore ways to make CAR-T therapies safer, more effective, and broaden their use to different types of cancers. Sadelains lab will also investigate how CAR-T engineering could be used to treat a diverse array of diseases and conditions beyond cancer, as well as sustainable means to make cell therapies more accessible. Sadelain joined Columbia University from Memorial Sloan Kettering, where he was the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair and director of the Center for Cell Engineering. Sadelain completed his MD at University of Paris; conducted his PhD research at the University of Alberta; and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sadelain has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, American Association for Cancer Research, American Society for Clinical Investigation, American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Medicine of France. Sadelain has won the Breakthrough Prize for Life Sciences, Canada Gairdner International Award, Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy Outstanding Achievement Award, Leopold Griffuel Award, INSERM International Prize, Jacob and Louise Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine, Passano Laureate, Pasteur Weizmann Servier Prize at the Academy of Sciences in Paris, Cancer Research Institute Coley award, and more.