Ryan Denu, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care

rdenu@wisc.edu

600 Highland Ave
Madison WI 53792-3284

Research Interests

My research in pharmacology focuses on identifying and therapeutically exploiting mechanisms of epigenetic plasticity and lineage state transitions in sarcomas, which are aggressive connective tissue cancers. My work integrates single-cell and spatial multiomic technologies, functional genomics, and translational oncology to define how alterations in chromatin regulation drive aggressive cancer phenotypes and therapeutic resistance. For example, I have identified epigenetically driven cellular states and novel therapeutic vulnerabilities involving ATRX loss, a common alteration in sarcomas, which drive epigenetic reprogramming and activation of TEAD signaling, conferring sensitivity to TEAD inhibition. Across my career, I have combined mechanistic cancer biology with clinically relevant pharmacologic strategies to advance precision therapies for rare and treatment-resistant malignancies.

Publications

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/ryan.denu.3/bibliography/public