January 15Member Accomplishment
Shu Yazaki is awarded Uehara Memorial Foundation Research Fellowship
Postdoctoral fellow Shu Yazaki receives a Uehara Memorial Foundation Research Fellowship in recognition of his research contributions.
News
Lab updates
Browse lab milestones by year, from publications and press coverage to clinical trial launches, talks, and team achievements.
2026
2025
December 15Press
ASTROnews Winter 2025 feature on H&N biomarkers
ASTROnews publishes “Winter Is Coming: The Changing Landscape of Head & Neck Cancer Biomarkers” by N. Riaz & B. Chera—a reader-friendly overview of precision biomarkers.
September 28Press
Media pickup: Bioengineer.org recaps ASTRO lymphocyte-sparing study
Bioengineer.org spotlights our analysis linking lymphocyte preservation to better outcomes—supporting dose and volume de-escalation for HPV-positive disease.
July 15Clinical Trial
Phase III trial 24-200 (NCT06563479) opens with Riaz as co-investigator
MSK launches a personalized 3-week chemoradiation protocol (FMISO-selected) versus standard 7-week CRT for HPV-positive OPC, listing Dr. Riaz as co-PI.
June 26Publication
Shu Yazaki publishes AlphaMissense DDR study
Postdoctoral fellow Shu Yazaki reports in JCO Precision Oncology on using AlphaMissense to classify DDR-associated mutations across cancer cohorts.
June 19Funding
NCI funds Riaz Lab and Tim Chan collaboration on homologous recombination and anti-tumor immunity
A new NCI award will support Riaz Lab and Tim Chan in studying how homologous recombination repair pathway mutations and related genetic mechanisms shape anti-tumor immunity and immunotherapy efficacy.
May 11Publication
Sinha et al. publish JITC study on ATM-deficient cancers
JITC publishes a new Riaz Lab study mapping the cold immunological landscape of ATM-deficient cancers and its implications for DDR-directed immunotherapy strategies.
May 10Clinical Trial
Phase II trial 25-040 (NCT06984861) launches
MSK opens trial 25-040: reduced-dose (30 Gy/3 weeks) CRT with adaptive escalation based on early response, listing Dr. Riaz as co-investigator.
January 15Funding
Riaz Lab and Dr. Yao Yu receive MSK award to study the microbiome in head and neck cancer
The Imaging and Radiation Sciences Program at MSK awarded Riaz Lab and Dr. Yao Yu support for a new project studying how the microbiome shapes head and neck cancer biology.
2024
September 30Publication
Alban et al. publish Nature Medicine study on neoantigen immunogenicity during nivolumab therapy
Nature Medicine publishes a study defining neoantigen immunogenicity landscapes and the evolution of tumor ecosystems during immunotherapy with nivolumab.
August 28Publication
Zhu et al. publish Genome Medicine study on synthetic viability in BRCA tumors
Yingjie Zhu first-authors a Genome Medicine paper showing large-scale copy-number alterations are enriched for synthetic viability in BRCA1/BRCA2 tumors, advancing the lab's HRD work.
August 7Publication
Ng et al. publish ATR-radiotherapy synthetic cytotoxicity study
Clinical Cancer Research reports genotype-directed synthetic cytotoxicity between ATR inhibition and radiotherapy, highlighting a rational strategy for ATM-deficient tumors.
July 10Publication
Ma et al. publish combinatorial chemoradiation study in HRD tumors
IJROBP reports increased synthetic cytotoxicity from combinatorial chemoradiation in homologous recombination-deficient tumors, extending the lab's translational DDR-radiotherapy program.
January 19Publication
Lee et al. publish JCO hypoxia-directed HPV+ OPC trial results
The Journal of Clinical Oncology publishes the marquee hypoxia-directed treatment study in HPV-related oropharyngeal carcinoma, a clinical anchor for the lab's precision radiotherapy program.
January 13Publication
Tsai et al. publish Lancet CURB oligoprogression trial
The Lancet publishes the CURB phase 2 trial evaluating standard systemic therapy with or without stereotactic body radiotherapy in oligoprogressive breast and non-small-cell lung cancer.