Charles J Robbins

I am an MD-PhD student at Yale and a biomedical engineer by training. I grew up in Homestead, near Miami, and began studying cancer biology as a high school intern at Florida International University. I studied chemical and biomedical engineering at Florida State University, where I graduated summa cum laude. Through my undergraduate research at FSU, the Wistar Institute, and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, I used systems biology and -omics approaches to investigate cancer-driving mutations, altered signaling pathways, and resistance to targeted therapy. I served as scientific lead on my senior design team, where we developed a disposable, equipment-free kit to detect pathogen DNA in urine using rapid isothermal amplification. The project won two FSU innovation awards, competed in the 2019 ACC InVenture competition, and introduced me to point-of-care diagnostics.

In Dr. David Rimm’s lab at Yale, I study HER2-low cancer and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). For my dissertation, I developed Troplex, a quantitative HER2 and TROP2 assay designed to inform ADC selection in breast cancer (now offered by the Yale QDAP CLIA laboratory). I led a retrospective study combining Troplex measurements with spatial and molecular profiling to identify biomarkers of response and resistance to trastuzumab deruxtecan. Through this work, I gained experience in clinical assay design, digital pathology, and machine learning, including deep learning. I hope to bring these interests together as a physician-scientist and engineer, developing technologies that advance biomedical discovery and make diagnostic testing faster and more accessible. Outside the lab, I enjoy golf, programming, and science fiction.