Description of Research Expertise

I am a Medical Oncologist with postdoctoral training in Cancer Genetics and PhD training in molecular and cellular biology. My research interests are in the genetics of human disease, particularly familial breast and prostate cancers, and in determinants of disease penetrance.

Maxwell Lab
https://www.med.upenn.edu/kmaxwelllab/
We are a translational human genetics and genomics research laboratory studying mechanisms of tumor formation in inherited cancer syndromes. We have a focus on breast and prostate cancer, but are interested in the broad range of tumor types affected by DNA repair deficiency. We are using multi-omics analyses of human samples coupled with in vitro and in vivo modelling systems to understand how tumors form in patients with inherited cancers.

For our work in prostate cancer genetics, we leverage the resources of the Basser Center for BRCA (https://www.basser.org/), the Penn Medicine Biobank (https://www.itmat.upenn.edu/biobank/), the Veterans' Affairs and Prostate Cancer Foundation Partnership (https://www.pcf.org/va-partnership/) and the VA Million Veterans' Program (https://www.mvp.va.gov/). Dr. Maxwell is the Director of the Basser Center’s Men and BRCA program (https://www.basser.org/brca/brca-men).

We are actively involved in many aspects of basic, translational and clinical research in Li Fraumeni Syndrome, caused by germline TP53 disease causing variants. We are one of the founding members of the EDISYN consortium (https://www.edisyn.org/) to study early cancer detection in patients with Li Fraumeni Syndrome, and we are active participants in the LIFTUp study (https://liftupstudy.org/).

We take a multi-disciplinary approach, collaborating with our colleagues across basic science labs and the clinical arena. Our research is funded by the National Cancer Institute, the Veterans’ Affairs Office of Research amd Development, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation, the Li Fraumeni Syndrome Association and the Basser Center for BRCA.

Contact us for more details on rotation and post-doc projects in the fields of:
- Prostate cancer genetics
- BRCA1/2 cancers in men
- Li Fraumeni Syndrome and TP53-related disorders
- Mutational signatures in Veteran tumors

Lab Members 2024-25:
Greg Kelly MS, Lab Manager
Caitlin Orr PhD, Penn Project Manager
Leslie Grush AuD, VA Project Manager
KJ Johnson, Lab Administrative Assistant
Heena Desai MS, Bioinformatician
Ryan Hausler MS, Bioninformatician
Renyta Moses, CAMB Cancer Biology PhD Student
Taylor Crawford, CAMB Cancer Biology PhD Student
Nabamita Boruah PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Anh Le DO, Medicine Intern
Maliha Tayeb, Clinical Research Coordinator
Michael Wang, Clinical Research Coordinator
Rosella Delgado, Genetic Counseling Assistant
Sophia Spiegel, Penn Medical Student
Jillian O'Toole, Penn MS GC Student

Selected Publications

Powers J, Wachtel H, Trujillo E, Desai H, Hausler R, Conway L, Wubbenhorst B, Nathanson KL, Domchek SM, Maxwell KN: Multi-ethnic heterozygote frequencies of cancer susceptibility genes to inform counseling of reproductive risk Genetics in Medicine in press : 2024.

Leader AE, Rebbeck TR, Oh WK, Patel AV, Winer EP, Bailey LO, Gomella LG, Lumpkins CY, Garraway IP, Aiello LB, Baskin ML, Cheng HH, Cooney KA, Ganzak A, George DJ, Halabi S, Hathaway F, Healy C, Kim JW, Leapman MS, Loeb S, Maxwell KN, McNair C, Morgan TM, Prindeville B, Soule HR, Steward WL, Suttiratana SC, Taplin ME, Yamoah K, Fortune T, Bennett K, Blanding-Godbolt J, Gross L, Giri VN.: Adaptation of the socioecological model to address disparities in engagement of Black men in prostate cancer genetic testing BMC Public Health 24 : 2533,2024.

Cheng HH, Shevach JW, Castro E, Couch FJ, Domchek SM, Eeles RA, Giri VN, Hall MJ, King MC, Lin DW, Loeb S, Morgan TM, Offit K, Pritchard CC, Schaeffer EM, Szymaniak BM, Vassy JL, Katona BW, Maxwell KN.: BRCA1, BRCA2, and Associated Cancer Risks and Management for Male Patients: A Review JAMA Oncol 10 : 1272-1281,2024.

Leuva H, Zhou M, Jamaleddine N, Meseha M, Faiena I, Anna Park YH, McWilliams G, Luhrs C, Maxwell KN, Von Hoff D, Bates SE, Fojo T.: Assessing olaparib efficacy in U.S. Veterans with metastatic prostate cancer utilizing a time-indifferent g-rate method ideal for real-world analyses EBioMedicine 107 (105288): 2024.

Cañadas I, Casirati G, Houlahan KE, Maxwell KN, Mehta A, Parolia A, Saulnier O, Taylor AM, Thomas CE, Vázquez-García I.: Insights on Future Directions in Cancer Research from the AACR NextGen Stars Cancer Discov 14 : 1584-1589,2024.

Cederquist GY, Boe LA, Walsh M, Freedman GM, Maxwell KN, Taunk N, Braunstein LZ.: Radiation-Associated Secondary Cancer in Patients With Breast Cancer Harboring TP53 Germline Variants JAMA Oncol : 2024.

Lin JK, Hearn CM, Getzen E, Long Q, Lee DC, Keaveny TM, Jayadevappa R, Robinson KW, Wong YN, Maxwell KN, Narayan V, Haas NB, Takvorian SU, Bikle DD, Chiang JM, Khan AN, Rajapakse CS, Morgans AK, Parikh RB.: Validation of Biomechanical Computed Tomography for Fracture Risk Classification in Metastatic Hormone-sensitive Prostate Cancer Eur Urol Oncol 7 (4): 794-803,2024.

Safonov A, Marra A, Bandlamudi C, O'Leary B, Wubbenhorst B, Ferraro E, Moiso E, Lee M, An J, Donoghue MTA, Will M, Pareja F, Nizialek E, Lukashchuk N, Sofianopoulou E, Liu Y, Huang X, Ahmed M, Mehine MM, Ross D, Mandelker D, Ladanyi M, Schultz N, Berger MF, Scaltriti M, Reis-Filho JS, Li BT, Offit K, Norton L, Shen R, Shah S, Maxwell KN, Couch F, Domchek SM, Solit DB, Nathanson KL, Robson ME, Turner NC, Chandarlapaty S, Razavi P.: Tumor suppressor heterozygosity and homologous recombination deficiency mediate resistance to front-line therapy in breast cancer bioRxiv : 2024.

Perrino MR, Das A, Scollon SR, Mitchell SG, Greer MC, Yohe ME, Hansford JR, Kalish JM, Schultz KAP, MacFarland SP, Kohlmann WK, Lupo PJ, Maxwell KN, Pfister SM, Weksberg R, Michaeli O, Jongmans MCJ, Tomlinson GE, Brzezinski J, Tabori U, Ney GM, Gripp KW, Gross AM, Widemann BC, Stewart DR, Woodward ER, Kratz CP.: Update on Pediatric Cancer Surveillance Recommendations for Patients with Neurofibromatosis Type 1, Noonan Syndrome, CBL Syndrome, Costello Syndrome, and Related RASopathies Clin Cancer Res : 2024.

Ward A, Farengo-Clark D, McKenna DB, Safonov A, Good M, Le A, Kessler L, Shah PD, Bradbury AR, Domchek SM, Nathanson KL, Powers J, Maxwell KN.: Clinical management of TP53 mosaic variants found on germline genetic testing Cancer Genet 284-285 : 43-47,2024.

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Academic Contact Information

BRB Room 810
421 Curie Blvd
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Patient appointments: 800-789-7366