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Lucas A Salas, MD, MPH, PhD

Title(s)
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology

Additional Titles/Positions/Affiliations
Investigator Cancer Population Sciences Research Program, Dartmouth Cancer Center

Department(s)
Epidemiology

Education
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, PhD 2015
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, MPH 2011
Universidad de Antioquia, Epidemiology 2007
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, MD 2001

Programs
Quantitative Biomedical Sciences
Other

NIH Biosketch
Salas_L_BIO_2020-09-21.pdf

Websites
https://sites.dartmouth.edu/salaslab/
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2279-4097
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FsRf5lQAAAAJ&hl=en
https://publons.com/researcher/1222796/lucas-a-salas/
https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/data/experiment/html/FlowSorted.Blood.EPIC.html
https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/data/experiment/html/FlowSorted.CordBloodCombined.450k.html

Contact Information


Professional Interests

The broad goal of Dr. Salas research is to investigate how cell heterogeneity impacts human health and disease, with an emphasis on how genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors model the human epigenome and therefore the cell plasticity. Dr. Salas’ laboratory studies how some key epigenetic mechanisms (DNA methylation, DNA hydroxymethylation, and miRNA alterations) affect gene expression and cancer outcomes, including how the immune cells are altered in this disease. Other research interests include biomarker development, chronic inflammation, and human disease, and how exposures during fetal life alter newborn and childhood outcomes.

Grant Information

W81XWH-20-1-0778, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs/Department of Defense
Salas Diaz, Lucas A (PI) 09/01/20-08/31/24
Epigenetic modifications of cytosines in clear cell kidney carcinogenesis and survival
P20 GM104416-09/8299, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Salas Diaz, Lucas A (PI) 10/01/20-01/01/23
A single-cell approach to disentangle tumor microenvironments in short and long survivors to clear cell renal carcinoma

Courses Taught

QBS.132
CANB.103
MDED.118
QBS.271
PEMM.212

Mentoring Information

Current trainees:
Chinaza Nnam, MCB
Minghui Zhang, QBS
Mary (Yiping) Li, QBS
Hannah Stolrrow, QBS
Erick Mmboya, QBS

Former trainees:
Dr. Ze Zhang, PhD, (QBS)
Dr. Steven C. Pike, PhD (IND)
Dr. Prasoona Karra, PhD (postdoctoral fellow)
Dr. Michael Mariani, PhD (postdoctoral fellow)


Selected Publications

 

Integrative epigenetics and transcriptomics identify aging genes in human blood.
Moqri M, Ying K, Poganik JR, Herzog C, Chen Q, Emamifar M, Tyshkovskiy A, Eames A, Mur J, Glubokov D, Matei-Dediu B, Goeminne L, Mitchell W, McCartney DL, Salas LA, Marioni RE, Lasky-Su JA, Snyder MP, Gladyshev VN
Nat Commun. 2026 Jan 19;17(1):725. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-67369-1. Epub 2026 Jan 19.
PMID: 41554691

Normal gastric tissue Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with tissue cell composition, and cell type-specific epigenetic age acceleration, mitotic tick rate, and repetitive element methylation alterations.
Vlasac I, Christensen BC, Salas LA
Epigenet Rep. 2025;3(1) doi: 10.1080/28361512.2025.2554836. Epub 2025 Sep 6.
PMID: 41522365

A cytokine-based serum proteomic score is a prognostic biomarker for immunotherapy in head and neck cancer.
Saif MSI, Sehgal K, Zhang Z, Butler RA, Wiencke JK, Molinaro AM, Miller J, Stolrow HG, Shirai K, Salas LA, Koestler DC, Haddad R, Christensen BC, Kelsey KT
Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2025 Dec 24;75(1):30. doi: 10.1007/s00262-025-04271-1. Epub 2025 Dec 24.
PMID: 41441882

Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition is Associated with Altered Immune Composition and Cytotoxic Function in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.
Lu H, Bagheri M, Kolling FW, Salas LA, Wang X, Miller TW, Pattabiraman DR, Christensen B
bioRxiv. 2025 Oct 23; pii: 2025.10.22.683714. doi: 10.1101/2025.10.22.683714. Epub 2025 Oct 23.
PMID: 41280107

Homologous Recombination Deficiency and Survival in Ovarian High-Grade Serous Carcinoma by Self-Reported Race.
Lawson-Michod KA, Johnson CE, Barnard ME, Davidson NR, Collin LJ, Nix DA, Huff CD, Berchuck A, Salas LA, Greene CS, Marks JR, Peres LC, Doherty JA, Schildkraut JM
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2025 Nov 3;34(11):2007-2014. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-25-0762.
PMID: 40905821

Retrotransposon methylation profiles and survival in Black women with high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma.
Colin-Leitzinger C, Lawson-Michod KA, Johnson CE, Vlasac IM, Yoder S, Mesa T, Roeber D, Huff C, Hildebrandt MAT, Haller K, Alberg AJ, Bandera EV, Bondy M, Cote ML, Hastert T, Peters ES, Terry PD, Lawson AB, Berchuck A, Fridley BL, Chern JY, Doherty JA, Marks JR, Schildkraut JM, Christensen BC, Salas LA, Peres LC
Clin Epigenetics. 2025 Jul 30;17(1):134. doi: 10.1186/s13148-025-01942-9. Epub 2025 Jul 30.
PMID: 40734190

Reply to: "Comments on the paper 'Extensive epigenomic dysregulation is a hallmark of homologous recombination deficiency in triple-negative breast cancer' by Y. Chen et al.".
Chen Y, Salas LA, Marotti JD, Jenkins NP, Cheng C, Miller TW, Kettenbach AN, Christensen BC
Int J Cancer. 2025 Aug 1;157(3):590-591. doi: 10.1002/ijc.35434. Epub 2025 Apr 18.
PMID: 40474572

Genomic Characterization of High-Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma Reveals Distinct Somatic Features in Black Individuals.
Lawson-Michod KA, Marks JR, Collin LJ, Nix DA, Davidson NR, Huff CD, Yu Y, Atkinson A, Johnson CE, Salas LA, Peres LC, Greene CS, Schildkraut JM, Doherty JA
Cancer Res. 2025 May 2;85(9):1725-1737. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-24-1879.
PMID: 40063699

Homologous recombination deficiency in ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma by self-reported race.
Lawson-Michod KA, Johnson CE, Barnard ME, Davidson N, Collin LJ, Nix DA, Huff C, Berchuck A, Salas LA, Greene C, Marks JR, Peres LC, Doherty JA, Schildkraut JM
medRxiv. 2025 Jan 28; pii: 2025.01.21.25320918. doi: 10.1101/2025.01.21.25320918. Epub 2025 Jan 28.
PMID: 39974072

Extensive epigenomic dysregulation is a hallmark of homologous recombination deficiency in triple-negative breast cancer.
Chen Y, Salas LA, Marotti JD, Jenkins NP, Cheng C, Miller TW, Kettenbach AN, Christensen BC
Int J Cancer. 2025 Mar 15;156(6):1191-1202. doi: 10.1002/ijc.35274. Epub 2024 Dec 5.
PMID: 39635770

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