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Charles G. Mullighan, MBBS (Hons), MSc, MD
Charles G. Mullighan, MBBS (Hons), MSc, MD

Charles G. Mullighan, MBBS (Hons), MSc, MD

Member, St. Jude Faculty

  • Deputy Director, Comprehensive Cancer Center
  • Co-Leader, Hematological Malignancies Program
  • Medical Director, St. Jude Biorepository
  • William E. Evans Endowed Chair

Departments

Education

MBBS(Hons) – University of Adelaide, Australia (1993)
MSc – University of London, England (1997)
MD – University of Adelaide, Australia (1998)
Fellowship – Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (2004)
Fellowship – Royal Australasian College of Physicians (2004)

Honors & Awards

  • 2017 National Cancer Institute R35 Outstanding Investigator Award
  • 2016  American Society of Hematology William Dameshek Prize
  • 2016 St. Baldrick's Foundation Robert J. Arceci Innovation Award inaugural recipient
  • 2016 Elected member, American Association of Physicians
  • 2015 Fellow, Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences
  • 2015 United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology Ramzi Cotran Young Investigator Award
  • 2012 Meyenburg Award for Cancer Research
  • 2012 Elected member, American Society of Clinical Investigation
  • 2009 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences
  • 2009 American Association for Cancer Research Team Science Award (with the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Hematologic Malignancies Program)
  • 2009 Society for Pediatric Pathology Lotte Strauss Prize
  • 2008 American Society of Hematology Joanne Levy, MD, Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement
  • 2007 American Society of Hematology Scholar Award
  • 2007 American Society of Hematology Merit Award

Research Interests

  • The use of integrated genomic and epigenomic approaches to understand the pathogenesis and evolution of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and related disorders.
  • Defining the interaction of inherited and somatic genetic alterations in leukemogenesis.
  • The use of in vitro and in vivo experimental approaches to model genomic abnormalities in leukemogenesis.
  • Preclinical therapeutic testing to translate genomic discoveries to new treatment approaches in ALL.

Selected Publications

Alexander TB, Gu Z, Iacobucci I, Dickerson K, Choi JK, Xu B, Payne-Turner D, Yoshihara H, Loh ML, Horan J, Buldini B, Basso G, Elitzur S, de Haas V, Zwaan CM, Yeoh A, Reinhardt D, Tomizawa D, Kiyokawa N, Lammens T, De Moerloose B, Zhou L, Hori H, Moorman A, Moore AS, Hrusak O, Meshinchi S, Orgel E, Devidas M, Borowitz M, Wood B, Heerema NA, Carrol A, Yang Y-L, Smith MA, Davidsen TM, Hermida LC, Gesuwan P, Marra MA, Ma Y, Mungall AJ, Moore RA, Jones SJM, Valentine M, Janke LJ, Rubnitz JE, Pui C-H, Ding L, Liu Y, Zhang J, Nichols KE, Downing JR, Cao X, Shi L, Pounds SB, Newman S, Pei D, Guidry Auvil JM, Gerhard DS, Hunger SP, Inaba H, Mullighan CG. The genetic basis and cell of origin of mixed phenotype acute leukemia. Nature Sep 12, 2018. doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0436-0

KG Roberts, SC Reshmi, RC Harvey, I-M Chen, K Patel, E Stonerock, H Jenkins, Y Dai, M Valentine, Z Gu, Y Zhao, Y Liu, Y Li, J Zhang, D Payne-Turner, M Devidas, NA Heerema, AJ Carroll, EA Raetz, MJ Borowitz, BL Wood, A Angiolillo, MJ Burke, WL Salzer, PA Zweidler-McKay, KR Rabin, L Mattano, KW Maloney, WL Carroll, ML Loh, CL Willman, JM Gastier-Foster, CG Mullighan, SP Hunger. Genomic and outcome analyses of Philadelphia chromosome-like ALL in NCI standard-risk patients: a report from the Children’s Oncology Group. Blood 2018 (in press). Co-corresponding author

Cheung LC, Tickner J, Hughes AM, Skut P, Howlett M, Foley B, Oommen J, Wells JE, He B, Singh S, Chua GA, Ford J, Mullighan CG, Kotecha RS, Kees UR. New therapeutic opportunities from dissecting the pre-B leukemia bone marrow microenvironment. Leukemia May 8, 2018. doi: 10.1038/s41375-018-0144-7

Churchman ML, Qian M, te Kronnie G, Zhang R, Yang W, Zhang H, Lana T, Tedrick P, Baskin R, Verbist K, Peters J, Devidas M, Raetz E, Larsen E, Martin P, Bowman WP, Winick N, Mardis E, Fulton R, Stanulla M, Evans WE, Relling MV, Pui C-H, Hunger SP, Loh ML, Handgretinger R, Nichols K, Yang JJ, Mullighan CG. Germline IKZF1 variation and predisposition to acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Cancer Cell 78:2747-2759, 2018. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-17-1900. Co-corresponding author.

Liu Y, Easton J, Shao Y, Maciaszek J, Wang Z, Wilkinson MR, McCastlain K, Edmonson M, Pounds SB, Shi L, Zhou X, Ma X, Sioson E, Li Y, Rusch M, Gupta P, Pei D, Cheng C, Smith MA, Auvil JG, Gerhard DS, Relling MV, Winick NJ, Carroll AJ, Heerema NA, Raetz E, Devidas M, Willman CL, Harvey RC, Carroll WL, Dunsmore KP, Winter SS, Wood BL, Sorrentino BP, Downing JR, Loh ML, Hunger SP, Zhang J, Mullighan CG. The genomic landscape of pediatric and young adult T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Nat Genet 49:1211-8, 2017.

Reshmi SC, Harvey RC, Roberts KG, Stonerock E, Smith A, Jenkins H, Chen IM, Valentine M, Liu Y, Li Y, Shao Y, Easton J, Payne-Turner D, Gu Z, Tran TH, Nguyen JV, Devidas M, Dai Y, Heerema NA, Carroll AJ, 3rd, Raetz EA, Borowitz MJ, Wood BL, Angiolillo AL, Burke MJ, Salzer WL, Zweidler-McKay PA, Rabin KR, Carroll WL, Zhang J, Loh ML, Mullighan CG, Willman CL, Gastier-Foster JM, Hunger SP. Targetable kinase gene fusions in high-risk B-ALL: a study from the Children's Oncology Group. Blood 129:3352-61, 2017.

Welsh SJ, Churchman ML, Togni M, Mullighan CG, Hagman J. Deregulation of kinase signaling and lymphoid development in EBF1-PDGFRB ALL leukemogenesis. Leukemia 2017 (in press).

Roberts KG, Gu Z, Payne-Turner D, McCastlain K, Harvey RC, Chen I-M, Pei D, Iacobucci I, Valentine M, Pounds SB, Shi L, Li Y, Zhang Y, Cheng C, Rambaldi A, Spinelli O, Radich J, Minden MD, Rowe JM, Luger S, Bhatia R, Aldoss I, Kohlschmidt J, Mrózek K, Marcucci G, Bloomfield CD, Stock W, Kantarjian HM, Konopleva M, Kornblau S, Paietta E, Willman CL, Mullighan CG. High Frequency and Poor Outcome of Ph-like Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Adults. J Clin Oncol 35:394-401, 2017.

Zhang J, McCastlain K, Wu G, Li Y, Wei L, Iacobucci I, Liu Y, Qu C, Xu B, Wen J, Edmonson M, Payne-Turner D, Yoshihara H, Chang Y, Churchman ML, Waanders E, Ntziachristos P, Bakogianni S, Wang J, Aifantis I, Roberts KG, Ma J, Song G, Easton J, Mulder H, Chen X, Newman S, Ma X, Rusch M, Gupta P, Boggs K, Vadodaria B, Dalton J, Liu Y, Valentine ML, Ding L, Lu C, Fulton RS, Fulton L, Tabib Y, Ochoa K, Devidas M, Pei D, Cheng C, Yang J, Evans WE, Relling MV, Pui CH, Jeha S, Harvey RC, Chen IL, Willman CL, Marcucci G, Bloomfield CD, Kohlschmidt J, Mrozek K, Paietta E, Tallman MS, Stock W, Voorhees PM, Racevskis J, Rowe JM, Luger S, Kornblau SM, Shurtleff SA, Raimondi SC, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Hunger SP, Loh ML, Downing JR, Mullighan CG for the St Jude Children’s Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project. Deregulation of DUX4 and ERG in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Nature Genetics 48(12):1481-1489, 2016. doi: 10.1038/ng.3691

Gu Z, Li Y, Liu Y, Reshmi SC, Roberts KG, Harvey RC, McCastlain M, Payne-Turner D, Churchman M, Iacobucci I, Shao Y, Chen I-M, Valentine M, Pei D, Mungall K, Mungall AJ, Ma Y, Moore R, Marra M, Stonerock E, Gastier-Foster JM, Devidas M, Dai Y, Wood BL, Borowitz M, Larsen EE, Maloney K, Mattano LA, Angiolillo A, Salzer WL, Burke MJ, Gianni F, Spinelli O, Radich JP, Minden MD,  Moorman AV, Patel B, Fielding AK, Rowe JM, Luger SM, Bhatia R, Aldoss I, Forman SJ, Kohlschmidt J, Mrózek K, Marcucci G, Bloomfield CD, Stock W, Kornblau S, Kantarjian HM, Konopleva M, Paietta E, Willman CL, Loh ML, Hunger SP, Mullighan CG. Genomic analyses identify recurrent MEF2D fusions in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Nat Commun 7:13331, 2016. doi:10.1038/ncomms13331

Iacobucci I, Li Y, Roberts KG, Dobson SM, Kim JC, Payne-Turner D, Harvey RC, Valentine M, McCastlain K, Easton J, Yergeau D, Janke LJ, Shao Y, Chen IM, Rusch M, Zandi S, Kornblau SM, Konopleva M, Jabbour E, Paietta EM, Rowe JM, Pui CH, Gastier-Foster J, Gu Z Reshmi S, Loh ML, Racevskis J, Tallman MS, Wiernik PH, Litzow MR, Willman CL, McPherson JD, Downing JR, Zhang J, Dick JE, Hunger SP, Mullighan CG. Truncating Erythropoietin Receptor Rearrangements in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Cancer Cell 29:186-200, 2016.

Mullighan CG, Jeha S, Pei D, Payne-Turner D, Coustan-Smith E, Roberts K, Waanders E, Choi J, Ma X, Raimondi S, Fan Y, Yang W, Song G, Yang J, Inaba H, Downing J, Leung W, Bowman WP, Relling M, Eva Dang J, Wei L, de Ridder J, Su X, Rust AG, Roberts KG, Payne-Turner D, Cheng J, Ma J, Qu C, Wu G, Song G, Huether R, Schulman B, Janke L, Zhang J, Downing JR, van der Weyden L, Adams DJ, Mullighan CG. Pax5 is a tumor suppressor in mouse mutagenesis models of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood 125(33):3609-17, 2015.

Ma X, Edmonson M, Yergeau D, Muzny D, Hampton OA, Rusch M, Song G, Easton J, Harvey RC, Wheeler DA, Ma J, Doddapaneni H, Vadodaria B, Wu G, Nagahawatte P, Carroll WL, Chen I-M, Gastier-Foster JM,  Relling MV, Smith MA, Devidas M, Guidry Auvil JM, Downing JR, Loh ML, Willman CL, Gerhard DL, Mullighan CG*, Hunger SP* and Zhang J*. The Rise and Fall of Subclones from Diagnosis to Relapse in Pediatric B-progenitor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Nat Commun 6:6604, 2015. *co-corresponding

Roberts KG, Li Y, Payne-Turner D, Harvey RC, Yang Y-L, Pei D, McCastlain K, Song G, Ma J, Becksfort J, Rusch M, Chen S-C, Easton J, Cheng J, Wen J, Santiago-Morales N, Iacobucci I, Valentine M, Cheng C, Paugh SW, Devidas M, Chen I-M, Reshmi S, Hedlund E, Gupta P, Nagahawatte P, Wu G, Winick NJ, Larsen EC, Carroll WL, Heerema NA, Carroll AJ, Grayson G, Raetz EA, Guidry Auvil J, Smith MA, White D, Hughes TP, Marcucci G, Bloomfield CD, Mrózek K, Kohlschmidt J, Stock W, Kornblau SM, Konopleva M, Paietta E, Pui C-H, Jeha S, Relling MV, Evans WE, Gerhard DS, Gastier-Foster JM, Loh ML, Downing JR, Hunger SP, Willman C, Zhang J, Mullighan CG. Targetable kinase activating lesions in Philadelphia chromosome-like acute lymphoblastic leukemia. N Engl J Med 371(11):1005-15, 2014. PMID: 25207766. PMCID: PMC4191900

Ntziachristos P, Tsirigos A, Welstead G, Trimarchi T, Bakogianni S, Xu L, Loizou E, Holmfeldt L, Strikoudis A, King B, Mullanders J, Becksfort J, Nedjic J, Paietta E, Tallman MS, Rowe JM, Satoh T, Kruidenier L, Prinjha R, Akira S, Van Vlierberghe P, Ferrando AA, Jaenisch R, Mullighan CG*, Aifantis I*. Contrasting roles for histone 3 lysine 27 demethylases in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Nature 514(7523):513-7, 2014. *co-corresponding

Shah S*, KA Schrader*, Waanders E*, Timms A*, Vijai J*, Miething C*, Wechsler J, Yang J, Hayes J, Klein RJ, Zhang J, Wei L, Wu G, Rusch M, Nagahawatte P, Ma J, Chen S-C, Song G, Meyers P, Bhojwani D, Jhanwar S, Maslak P, Fleisher M, Littman J, Offit L, Rau-Murthy R, Fleischut MH, Gao X, Manschreck C, Kitzing T, Murty VV, Raimondi S, Kuiper RP, Simons A, Schiffman JD, Onel K, Plon SE, Wheeler D, Ritter D, Ziegler DS, Tucker K, Sutton R, Chenevix-Trench G, Li J, Huntsman DG, Hansford S, Senz J, Walsh T, Lee M, Hahn CN, King M-C, Lipkin SM, Lo SM, Levine RL, Viale A, Socci ND, Nathanson KL, Daly M, Scott HS, Lowe SW, Downing JR, Altshuler D, Sandlund JT, Horwitz MS^, Mullighan CG^, Offit K^. Identification of a recurrent germline PAX5 mutation and susceptibility ot pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Nat Genet 45(10):1226-31, 2013. *co-contributing, ^co-corresponding

Holmfeldt L, Wei L, Diaz-Flores E, Walsh M, Zhang J, Ding L, Payne-Turner D, Churchman M, Andersson A, Chen S-C, McCastlain K, Becksfort J, Ma J, Wu G, Patel SN, Heatley SL, Phillips LA, Song G, Easton J, Parker M, Chen X, Rusch M, Boggs K, Vadodaria B, Hedlund E, Drenberg C, Baker S, Pei D, Cheng C, Lu C, Fulton RS, Fulton L, Tabib Y, Dooling DJ, Ochoa K, Minden M, Lewis ID, To LB, Marlton P,  Roberts AW, Raca G, Stock W, Neale G, Drexler HG, Dickins RA, Ellison DW, Shurtleff SA, Pui C-H, Ribeiro RC, Devidas M, Carroll AJ, Heerema NA, Wood B, MJ Borowitz, Gastier-Foster JM, Raimondi SC, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Downing JR, Hunger SP, Loh ML, Mullighan CG. The Genomic Landscape of Hypodiploid acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Nat Genet 45:242-52, 2013.

Roberts KG*, Morin RD*, Zhang J, Hirst M, Zhao Y, Su X, Payne-Turner D, Chen X, Harvey RC, Kasap C, Yan C, Churchman M, Chen S-C, Becksfort J, Finney R, Teachey DT, Maude SL, Tse K, Moore R, Jones S, Mungall K, Birol I, Edmonson MN, Hu Y, Buetow KE, Chen I-M, Carroll WL, Wei L, Ma J, Larsen E, Shah NP, Devidas M, Reaman G, Smith M, Evans WE, Paugh SW, Grupp SA, Pui C-H, Gerhard DS, Downing JR, Willman CL, Loh M, Hunger SP, Marra M, Mullighan CG. Novel genetic alterations activating kinase and cytokine receptor signaling in high risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Cancer Cell 22:153-66, 2012.

Zhang J, Ding L, Holmfeldt L, Wu G, Heatley SL, Payne-Turner D, Easton J, Chen X, Wang J, Rusch M, Lu C, Collins-Underwood JR, Ma J, Roberts KG, Pounds SB, Wei L, Ulyanov A, Becksfort J, Chen S-C, Gupta P, Huether R, Kriwacki RW, Parker M, McGoldrick DJ, Zhao D, Alford D, Espy S, Bobba KC, Song G, Pei D, Cheng C, Roberts S, Barbato MI, Campana D, Coustan-Smith E, Evans WE, Shurtleff SA, Raimondi SC, Kleppe M, Cools J, Shimano KA, Hermiston ML, Doulatov S, Eppert, K, Laurenti E, Notta F, Dick JE, Basso G, Hunger SP, Loh ML, Devidas M, Wood B, Winter S, Dunsmore KP, Fulton RS, Fulton LL, Hong X, Harris CC, Dooling DJ, Ochoa K, Johnson KJ, Obenauer JC, Pui C-H, Naeve CW, Ley TJ, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Downing JR, Mullighan CG. The genetic basis of early T-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Nature 481:157-63, 2012.

Zhang J*, Mullighan CG*, Harvey RC, Wu G, Chen X, Edmonson M, Buetow KH, Carroll WL, Cheng I-M, Devidas M, Gerhard DS, Loh ML, Reaman GH, Relling MV, Camitta BM, Bowman WP, Smith MA, Willman CL, Downing JR, Hunger SP. RAS signaling, B-cell development, TP53/RB1, and JAK signaling pathways are frequently mutated in high-risk B-precursor childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood 118:3080-7, 2011. [*co-first author]

Mullighan CG, Collins-Underwood JR, Phillips LAA, Loudin ML, Liu W, Zhang J, Ma J, Coustan-Smith E, Harvey RC, Willman CL, Mikhail FM, Meyer J, Carroll AJ, Williams RT, Cheng J, Heerema NA, Basso G, Pession A, Pui C-H, Raimondi SC, Hunger SP, Downing JR, Carroll WL, Rabin KR. Rearrangement of CRLF2 in B-progenitor and Down syndrome associated acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Nat Genet, 2009 41:1243-1246 (Corresponding author)

Mullighan CG, Su X, Zhang J, Radtke I, Phillips LA, Miller CB, Ma J, Liu W, Cheng C, Schulman BA, Harvey RC, Chen I-M, Clifford RJ, Carroll WL, Reaman G, Bowman WP, Devidas M, Gerhard DS, Yang W, Relling MV, Shurtleff SA, Campana D, Borowitz M, Pui C-H, Smith M, Hunger SP, Willman C, Downing JR, and the Children's Oncology Group. Deletion of IKZF1 and prognosis in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. N Engl J Med 360:470-480, 2009.

Mullighan CG, Phillips LA, Su X, Ma J, Miller CB, Shurtleff SA, Downing JR. Genomic analysis of the clonal origins of relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Science 322:1377-80, 2008.

Mullighan CG, Goorha S, Radtke I, Miller CB, Coustan-Smith E, Dalton JD, Girtman K, Mathew S, Ma J, Pounds SB, Su X, Pui C-H, Relling MV, Evans WE, Shurtleff SA, Downing JR Genome-wide analysis of genetic alterations in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Nature 446:758-64, 2007. 

Last update: September 2018

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