Don Nguyen, PhD
Associate Professor of Pathology and Medical OncologyDownloadHi-Res Photo
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Appointments
Pathology
Primary
Additional Titles
Co-Leader, Cancer Signaling Networks, Yale Cancer Center
Contact Info
Appointments
Pathology
Primary
Additional Titles
Co-Leader, Cancer Signaling Networks, Yale Cancer Center
Contact Info
Appointments
Pathology
Primary
Additional Titles
Co-Leader, Cancer Signaling Networks, Yale Cancer Center
Contact Info
About
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Titles
Associate Professor of Pathology and Medical Oncology
Co-Leader, Cancer Signaling Networks, Yale Cancer Center
Biography
Don X. Nguyen was born in Montreal, Québec, Canada and obtained his B.Sc. from McGill University in 1998. He then received his Ph.D. degree in 2004 from the University of Rochester, NY, before pursuing his post-doctoral training at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute, New York, NY. Don joined the faculty at the Yale School of Medicine in 2010 and is currently an Associate Professor (tenured) in the Department of Pathology and Medicine (Medical Oncology). He is also the Co-leader of the Cancer Signaling Networks program at the Yale Cancer Center. His research team has contributed to the development of novel models of metastasis with recognized expertise in the biology of central nervous system metastasis. Recent studies from the Nguyen laboratory have improved our understanding of: 1) the role of cell lineage control during tumor progression, 2) the epigenetic regulation of cell-cell communication in disseminating tumor cells, and 3) the mechanistic link(s) between drug resistance and brain metastasis.
Last Updated on April 08, 2025.
Appointments
Pathology
Associate Professor TenurePrimary
Other Departments & Organizations
- Cancer Signaling Networks
- Molecular Medicine, Pharmacology, and Physiology
- Nguyen Lab
- Pathology
- Pathology and Molecular Medicine
- Pathology Research
- Program in Translational Biomedicine (PTB)
- SPORE in Lung Cancer
- Yale Combined Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS)
- Yale Stem Cell Center
- YCC Collaborative Excellence
Education & Training
- Post-doctoral Fellowship
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute (2009)
- PhD
- University of Rochester, Microbiology & Immunology (2004)
- BSc
- McGill University, Microbiology and Immunology (1998)
Research
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Overview
Medical Research Interests
Epigenomics; Genomics; Inflammation; Neoplasm Metastasis; Neoplasm Micrometastasis; Pathology; Tumor Microenvironment
Public Health Interests
Cancer; Genetics, Genomics, Epigenetics
ORCID
0000-0003-0324-5604- View Lab Website
Nguyen lab website
Research at a Glance
Yale Co-Authors
Frequent collaborators of Don Nguyen's published research.
Publications Timeline
A big-picture view of Don Nguyen's research output by year.
Research Interests
Research topics Don Nguyen is interested in exploring.
Anna Arnal Estape, PhD, BS
Katerina Politi, PhD
Qin Yan, PhD
Veronica Chiang, MD, FAANS
Francesc Lopez-Giraldez, PhD
Andrew Xiao, PhD
17Publications
846Citations
Tumor Microenvironment
Neoplasm Metastasis
Epigenomics
Neoplasm Micrometastasis
Inflammation
Publications
Featured Publications
Brain metastatic outgrowth and osimertinib resistance are potentiated by RhoA in EGFR-mutant lung cancer
Adua S, Arnal-Estapé A, Zhao M, Qi B, Liu Z, Kravitz C, Hulme H, Strittmatter N, López-Giráldez F, Chande S, Albert A, Melnick M, Hu B, Politi K, Chiang V, Colclough N, Goodwin R, Cross D, Smith P, Nguyen D. Brain metastatic outgrowth and osimertinib resistance are potentiated by RhoA in EGFR-mutant lung cancer. Nature Communications 2022, 13: 7690. PMID: 36509758, PMCID: PMC9744876, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34889-z.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricTranscriptomic Hallmarks of Tumor Plasticity and Stromal Interactions in Brain Metastasis
Wingrove E, Liu ZZ, Patel KD, Arnal-Estapé A, Cai WL, Melnick MA, Politi K, Monteiro C, Zhu L, Valiente M, Kluger HM, Chiang VL, Nguyen DX. Transcriptomic Hallmarks of Tumor Plasticity and Stromal Interactions in Brain Metastasis. Cell Reports 2019, 27: 1277-1292.e7. PMID: 31018140, PMCID: PMC6592283, DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.03.085.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricTumor progression and chromatin landscape of lung cancer are regulated by the lineage factor GATA6
Arnal-Estapé A, Cai WL, Albert AE, Zhao M, Stevens LE, López-Giráldez F, Patel KD, Tyagi S, Schmitt EM, Westbrook TF, Nguyen DX. Tumor progression and chromatin landscape of lung cancer are regulated by the lineage factor GATA6. Oncogene 2020, 39: 3726-3737. PMID: 32157212, PMCID: PMC7190573, DOI: 10.1038/s41388-020-1246-z.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricHuman WDR5 promotes breast cancer growth and metastasis via KMT2-independent translation regulation
Cai WL, Chen JF, Chen H, Wingrove E, Kurley SJ, Chan LH, Zhang M, Arnal-Estape A, Zhao M, Balabaki A, Li W, Yu X, Krop ED, Dou Y, Liu Y, Jin J, Westbrook TF, Nguyen DX, Yan Q. Human WDR5 promotes breast cancer growth and metastasis via KMT2-independent translation regulation. ELife 2022, 11: e78163. PMID: 36043466, PMCID: PMC9584608, DOI: 10.7554/elife.78163.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricPreclinical Comparison of the Blood–brain barrier Permeability of Osimertinib with Other EGFR TKIs
Colclough N, Chen K, Johnström P, Strittmatter N, Yan Y, Wrigley GL, Schou M, Goodwin R, Varnäs K, Adua SJ, Zhao M, Nguyen DX, Maglennon G, Barton P, Atkinson J, Zhang L, Janefeldt A, Wilson J, Smith A, Takano A, Arakawa R, Kondrashov M, Malmquist J, Revunov E, Vazquez-Romero A, Moein MM, Windhorst AD, Karp NA, Finlay MRV, Ward RA, Yates JWT, Smith PD, Farde L, Cheng Z, Cross DAE. Preclinical Comparison of the Blood–brain barrier Permeability of Osimertinib with Other EGFR TKIs. Clinical Cancer Research 2021, 27: 189-201. PMID: 33028591, DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-19-1871.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricControl of Alveolar Differentiation by the Lineage Transcription Factors GATA6 and HOPX Inhibits Lung Adenocarcinoma Metastasis
Cheung WK, Zhao M, Liu Z, Stevens LE, Cao PD, Fang JE, Westbrook TF, Nguyen DX. Control of Alveolar Differentiation by the Lineage Transcription Factors GATA6 and HOPX Inhibits Lung Adenocarcinoma Metastasis. Cancer Cell 2013, 23: 725-738. PMID: 23707782, PMCID: PMC3697763, DOI: 10.1016/j.ccr.2013.04.009.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetric
2026
NSCLC brain metastases exhibit reduced HLA-I antigen presentation machinery and immune evasion independent of IFNγ signaling defects
Vilariño N, de Rodas M, Villalba-Esparza M, Rajendran B, Huang B, Hijazo-Pechero S, Costantini A, Ranjan K, Ramos-Paradas J, Lu B, Nadal E, Goldberg S, Nguyen D, Schalper K. NSCLC brain metastases exhibit reduced HLA-I antigen presentation machinery and immune evasion independent of IFNγ signaling defects. Molecular Cancer 2026 PMID: 42210261, DOI: 10.1186/s12943-026-02687-6.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchAltmetricMatched MRI, Segmentations, and Histopathologic Images of Brain Metastases from Primary Lung Cancer
Chadha S, Sritharan D, Dolezal D, Chande S, Hager T, Bousabarah K, Aboian M, Chiang V, Lin M, Nguyen D, Aneja S. Matched MRI, Segmentations, and Histopathologic Images of Brain Metastases from Primary Lung Cancer. Scientific Data 2026, 13: 40. PMID: 41513658, PMCID: PMC12808229, DOI: 10.1038/s41597-025-06353-2.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetric
2025
Preclinical Models of Solid Cancers for Testing Cancer Immunotherapies
Exposito F, Connolly K, Tang T, Chiorazzi M, Hunt B, Cardenas J, Nguyen D, Joshi N, Politi K. Preclinical Models of Solid Cancers for Testing Cancer Immunotherapies. Annual Review Of Cancer Biology 2025, 9: 285-305. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-cancerbio-062822-024810.Peer-Reviewed Reviews, Practice Guidelines, Standards, and Consensus StatementsCitationsAn in vivo screen identifies NAT10 as a master regulator of brain metastasis
Chen J, Xu P, Cai W, Chen H, Wingrove E, Shi X, Li W, Biancon G, Zhang M, Balabaki A, Krop E, Asare E, Zhang Y, Yin M, Tebaldi T, Meier J, Westbrook T, Halene S, Liu Y, Shen H, Nguyen D, Yan Q. An in vivo screen identifies NAT10 as a master regulator of brain metastasis. Science Advances 2025, 11: eads6021. PMID: 40138393, PMCID: PMC11939035, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ads6021.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetric
Clinical Trials
Current Trials
Determining Mechanisms of Sensitivity and Resistance to Anti-Cancer Therapy for Advanced Lung Cancer
IRB ID1603017333RoleSub InvestigatorPrimary Completion Date06/16/2036Recruiting Participants
Academic Achievements & Community Involvement
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Honors
honor Class of 1961 Cancer Research Award
03/03/2021Yale School of Medicine AwardDetailsUnited Stateshonor 2013 Basic Research Prize
09/01/2013Yale University AwardYale Cancer CenterDetailsUnited Stateshonor Stewart Trust Scholar
01/01/2013National AwardAlexander and Margaret Stewart TrustDetailsUnited Stateshonor IASLC Young Investigator Award
01/01/2012International AwardInternational Association for the Study of Lung CancerDetailsUnited Stateshonor Yale Center for Clinical Investigation Scholar
01/01/2011Yale University AwardYale Center for Clinical InvestigationDetailsUnited States
News & Links
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Media
- Soon after lung cancer cells (in green) disseminate into the brain, they can utilize extracellular matrix molecules (in red) derived from resident stromal cells (white) to shield themselves from the hostile surroundings.
News
- May 01, 2025
New Research Presented from Yale Cancer Center at #AACR25
- March 26, 2025
A Genetic Screen Identifies a New Master Regulator of Brain Metastasis
- February 24, 2025
Researchers in Nguyen Lab Seek Link Between Metastasis and Drug Resistance
- April 12, 2024
Yale Cancer Center Faculty and Trainees Present at AACR Annual Meeting
Get In Touch
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Contacts
Administrative Support
Locations
Nguyen Lab
Academic Office
Brady Memorial Laboratory
310 Cedar St, Rm BML 348B
New Haven, CT 06510
Appointments
203.737.4514Fax
203.785.2443
Events
Oct 20267Wednesday
Yale Only Don Nguyen, PhD - Tianchi Xin, PhD