Nikolaus Schultz was originally trained as a biochemist with a focus on molecular biology, then transitioned into bioinformatics and computational biology. He has extensive experience in the analysis of complex genomic data, especially in the context of signaling pathways. He currently leads the Knowledge Systems group in the Kravis Center for Molecular Oncology, where he oversees the implementation of the cBioPortal for Cancer Genomics and OncoKB, a knowledge base for Precision Oncology. Nikolaus was a co-founder of the cBioPortal software and has been involved in guiding its development since its inception, especially the design of features that are useful for researchers and clinicians – all influenced by his own strong interest in cancer genomics research. He also runs a research laboratory that explores the genomic alterations that underlie human cancer.
Chatila WK, Kim JK, Walch H, Marco MR, Chen CT, Wu F, Omer DM, Khalil DN, Ganesh K, Qu X, Luthra A, Choi SH, Ho YJ, Kundra R, Groves KI, Chow OS, Cercek A, Weiser MR, Widmar M, Wei IH, Pappou EP, Nash GM, Paty PB, Shi Q, Vakiani E, Duygu Selcuklu S, Donoghue MTA, Solit DB, Berger MF, Shia J, Pelossof R, Romesser PB, Yaeger R, Smith JJ, Schultz N, Sanchez-Vega F, Garcia-Aguilar J. Genomic and transcriptomic determinants of response to neoadjuvant therapy in rectal cancer. Nat Med. 2022 Aug;28(8):1646–1655. PMID: 35970919
Choi J, Holowatyj AN, Du M, Chen Z, Wen W, Schultz N, Lipworth L, Guo X. Distinct Genomic Landscapes in Early-Onset and Late-Onset Endometrial Cancer. JCO Precis Oncol. 2022 Feb;6:e2100401. PMCID: PMC8820918
Nguyen B, Fong C, Luthra A, Smith SA, DiNatale RG, Nandakumar S, Walch H, Chatila WK, Madupuri R, Kundra R, Bielski CM, Mastrogiacomo B, Donoghue MTA, Boire A, Chandarlapaty S, Ganesh K, Harding JJ, Iacobuzio-Donahue CA, Razavi P, Reznik E, Rudin CM, Zamarin D, Abida W, Abou-Alfa GK, Aghajanian C, Cercek A, Chi P, Feldman D, Ho AL, Iyer G, Janjigian YY, Morris M, Motzer RJ, O’Reilly EM, Postow MA, Raj NP, Riely GJ, Robson ME, Rosenberg JE, Safonov A, Shoushtari AN, Tap W, Teo MY, Varghese AM, Voss M, Yaeger R, Zauderer MG, Abu-Rustum N, Garcia-Aguilar J, Bochner B, Hakimi A, Jarnagin WR, Jones DR, Molena D, Morris L, Rios-Doria E, Russo P, Singer S, Strong VE, Chakravarty D, Ellenson LH, Gopalan A, Reis-Filho JS, Weigelt B, Ladanyi M, Gonen M, Shah SP, Massague J, Gao J, Zehir A, Berger MF, Solit DB, Bakhoum SF, Sanchez-Vega F, Schultz N. Genomic characterization of metastatic patterns from prospective clinical sequencing of 25,000 patients. Cell. 2022 Feb 3;185(3):563–575.e11. PMID: 35120664
Cercek A, Chatila WK, Yaeger R, Walch H, Fernandes GDS, Krishnan A, Palmaira L, Maio A, Kemel Y, Srinivasan P, Bandlamudi C, Salo-Mullen E, Tejada PR, Belanfanti K, Galle J, Joseph V, Segal N, Varghese A, Reidy-Lagunes D, Shia J, Vakiani E, Mondaca S, Mendelsohn R, Lumish MA, Steinruecke F, Kemeny N, Connell L, Ganesh K, Markowitz A, Nash G, Guillem J, Smith JJ, Paty PB, Zhang L, Mandelker D, Birsoy O, Robson M, Offit K, Taylor B, Berger M, Solit D, Weiser M, Saltz LB, Aguilar JG, Schultz N, Diaz LA, Stadler ZK. A Comprehensive Comparison of Early-Onset and Average-Onset Colorectal Cancers. J Natl Cancer Inst 2021 Aug 18; doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djab124 PMID: 34405229. PMC8634406.
Fiala EM, Jayakumaran G, Mauguen A, Kennedy JA, Bouvier N, Kemel Y, Fleischut MH, Maio A, Salo-Mullen EE, Sheehan M, Arnold AG, Latham A, Carlo MI, Cadoo K, Murkherjee S, Slotkin EK, Trippett T, Glade Bender J, Meyers PA, Wexler L, Dela Cruz FS, Cheung NK, Basu E, Kentsis A, Ortiz M, Francis JH, Dunkel IJ, Khakoo Y, Gilheeney S, Farouk Sait S, Forlenza CJ, Sulis M, Karajannis M, Modak S, Gerstle JT, Heaton TE, Roberts S, Yang C, Jairam S, Vijai J, Topka S, Friedman DN, Stadler ZK, Robson M, Berger MF, Schultz N, Ladanyi M, O’Reilly RJ, Abramson DH, Ceyhan-Birsoy O, Zhang L, Mandelker D, Shukla NN, Kung AL, Offit K, Zehir A, Walsh MF. Prospective pan-cancer germline testing using MSK-IMPACT informs clinical translation in 751 patients with pediatric solid tumors. Nat Cancer. 2021 Mar;2:357–365. PMCID: PMC8294573
Kundra R, Zhang H, Sheridan R, Sirintrapun SJ, Wang A, Ochoa A, Wilson M, Gross B, Sun Y, Madupuri R, Satravada BA, Reales D, Vakiani E, Al-Ahmadie HA, Dogan A, Arcila M, Zehir A, Maron S, Berger MF, Viaplana C, Janeway K, Ducar M, Sholl L, Dogan S, Bedard P, Surrey LF, Sanchez IH, Syed A, Rema AB, Chakravarty D, Suehnholz S, Nissan M, Iyer GV, Murali R, Bouvier N, Soslow RA, Hyman D, Younes A, Intlekofer A, Harding JJ, Carvajal RD, Sabbatini PJ, Abou-Alfa GK, Morris L, Janjigian YY, Gallagher MM, Soumerai TA, Mellinghoff IK, Hakimi AA, Fury M, Huse JT, Bagrodia A, Hameed M, Thomas S, Gardos S, Cerami E, Mazor T, Kumari P, Raman P, Shivdasani P, MacFarland S, Newman S, Waanders A, Gao J, Solit D, Schultz N. OncoTree: A Cancer Classification System for Precision Oncology. JCO Clin Cancer Inform. 2021 Feb;5:221–230. PMCID: PMC8240791
Nguyen B, Sanchez-Vega F, Fong CJ, Chatila WK, Boroujeni AM, Pareja F, Weigelt B, Sotiriou C, Larsimont D, Reis-Filho JS, Desmedt C, Schultz N. The genomic landscape of carcinomas with mucinous differentiation. Sci Rep. 2021 May 4;11(1):9478. PMCID: PMC8097060
Srinivasan P, Bandlamudi C, Jonsson P, Kemel Y, Chavan SS, Richards AL, Penson AV, Bielski CM, Fong C, Syed A, Jayakumaran G, Prasad M, Hwee J, Sumer SO, de Bruijn I, Li X, Gao J, Schultz N, Cambria R, Galle J, Mukherjee S, Vijai J, Cadoo KA, Carlo MI, Walsh MF, Mandelker D, Ceyhan-Birsoy O, Shia J, Zehir A, Ladanyi M, Hyman DM, Zhang L, Offit K, Robson ME, Solit DB, Stadler ZK, Berger MF, Taylor BS. The context-specific role of germline pathogenicity in tumorigenesis. Nat Genet. 2021 Nov;53(11):1577–1585. PMCID: PMC8957388
Cerami E, …, Schultz N. The cBio cancer genomics portal: an open platform for exploring multidimensional cancer genomics data. Cancer Discov. 2012 May;2(5):401-4. doi:
10.1158/2159-8290.CD-12-0095. Erratum in: Cancer Discov. 2012 Oct;2(10):960.
PubMed PMID: 22588877; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3956037.
Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network. The Molecular Taxonomy of Primary Prostate Cancer. Cell. 2015 Nov 5;163(4):1011-25. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.10.025. PubMed PMID: 26544944; PubMed Central PMCID:PMC4695400.
Ciriello G, …, Schultz N, Sander C. Emerging
landscape of oncogenic signatures across human cancers. Nat Genet. 2013 Oct;45(10):1127-33. doi: 10.1038/ng.2762. PubMed PMID: 24071851; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4320046.
Domcke S, …, Schultz N. Evaluating cell lines as tumour models by comparison of genomic profiles.
Nat Commun. 2013;4:2126. doi: 10.1038/ncomms3126. PubMed PMID: 23839242; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3715866.
Ciriello G, …, Schultz N. Mutual exclusivity analysis identifies oncogenic network modules. Genome Res. 2012 Feb;22(2):398-406. doi: 10.1101/gr.125567.111. Epub 2011 Sep 9. PubMed PMID: 21908773; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3266046.
Chakravarty D, …, Schultz N. OncoKB: A Precision Oncology Knowledge Base. JCO Precis Oncol. 2017 Jul;2017. doi: 10.1200/PO.17.00011. Epub 2017 May 16. PubMed PMID: 28890946; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5586540.
Sanchez-Vega F, …, Schultz N. Oncogenic Signaling Pathways in The Cancer Genome Atlas. Cell. 2018 Apr 5;173(2):321-337.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.03.035. PubMed PMID: 29625050; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6070353.
Armenia J, …; PCF/SU2C International Prostate Cancer Dream Team, Schultz N, Van Allen EM.
The long tail of oncogenic drivers in prostate cancer. Nat Genet. 2018 May;50(5):645-651. doi: 10.1038/s41588-018-0078-z. Epub 2018 Apr 2. Erratum in: Nat Genet. 2019 Jul;51(7):1194. PubMed PMID: 29610475; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6107367.
Yaeger R, …, Schultz N. Clinical Sequencing Defines the Genomic Landscape of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer. Cancer Cell. 2018 Jan 8;33(1):125-136.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2017.12.004. PubMed PMID: 29316426; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5765991.
Janjigian YY, …, Schultz N. Genetic Predictors of Response to Systemic Therapy in Esophagogastric Cancer. Cancer Discov. 2018 Jan;8(1):49-58. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-17-0787. Epub 2017 Nov 9. PubMed PMID: 29122777; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5813492.
Srinivasan P, Bandlamudi C, Jonsson P, Kemel Y, Chavan SS, Richards AL, Penson AV, Bielski CM, Fong C, Syed A, Jayakumaran G, Prasad M, Hwee J, Sumer SO, de Bruijn I, Li X, Gao J, Schultz N, Cambria R, Galle J, Mukherjee S, Vijai J, Cadoo KA, Carlo MI, Walsh MF, Mandelker D, Ceyhan-Birsoy O, Shia J, Zehir A, Ladanyi M, Hyman DM, Zhang L, Offit K, Robson ME, Solit DB, Stadler ZK, Berger MF, Taylor BS. The context-specific role of germline pathogenicity in tumorigenesis. Nat Genet. 2021;53(11):1577-85.
Sihag S, Nussenzweig SC, Walch HS, Hsu M, Tan KS, Sanchez-Vega F, et al., Schultz N, Berger MF. Next-Generation Sequencing of 487 Esophageal Adenocarcinomas Reveals Independently Prognostic Genomic Driver Alterations and Pathways. Clin Cancer Res. 2021;27(12):3491-8.
Shoushtari AN, Chatila WK, Arora A, Sanchez-Vega F, Kantheti HS, et al., Schultz N. Therapeutic Implications of Detecting MAPK-Activating Alterations in Cutaneous and Unknown Primary Melanomas. Clin Cancer Res. 2021;27(8):2226-35.
Kundra R, Zhang H, Sheridan R, Sirintrapun SJ, Wang A, et al., Schultz N. OncoTree: A Cancer Classification System for Precision Oncology. JCO Clin Cancer Inform. 2021;5:221-30.
Fiala EM, Jayakumaran G, Mauguen A, Kennedy JA, Bouvier N, Kemel Y, Fleischut MH, Maio A, Salo-Mullen EE, Sheehan M, Arnold AG, Latham A, Carlo MI, Cadoo K, Murkherjee S, Slotkin EK, Trippett T, Bender JG, Meyers PA, Wexler L, Dela Cruz FS, Cheung NK, Basu E, Kentsis A, Ortiz M, Francis JH, Dunkel IJ, Khakoo Y, Gilheeney S, Sait SF, Forlenza CJ, Sulis M, Karajannis M, Modak S, Gerstle JT, Heaton TE, Roberts S, Yang C, Jairam S, Vijai J, Topka S, Friedman DN, Stadler ZK, Robson M, Berger MF, Schultz N, Ladanyi M, O’Reilly RJ, Abramson DH, Ceyhan-Birsoy O, Zhang L, Mandelker D, Shukla NN, Kung AL, Offit K, Zehir A, Walsh MF. Prospective pan-cancer germline testing using MSK-IMPACT informs clinical translation in 751 patients with pediatric solid tumors. Nat Cancer. 2021;2:357-65.
Choi J, Holowatyj AN, Du M, Chen Z, Wen W, Schultz N, Lipworth L, Guo X. Distinct Genomic Landscapes in Early-Onset and Late-Onset Endometrial Cancer. JCO Precis Oncol. 2022;6:e2100401.
Cercek A, Chatila WK, Yaeger R, Walch H, et al. Schultz N, Diaz LA, Stadler ZK. A Comprehensive Comparison of Early-Onset and Average-Onset Colorectal Cancers. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2021;113(12):1683-92.
Nguyen, B, Fong, C, Luthra, A et al., Sanchez-Vega F. and Schultz N Genomic characterization of metastatic patterns from prospective clinical sequencing of 25,000 patients. Cell 2022; 185 (3): 563-575
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