Xaralabos Varelas, PhD
Professor
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Biochemistry & Cell Biology

PhD, University of Alberta
BSc, McGill University

Pronouns: he/him/his



Research in the Varelas lab is focused on gaining insight into the molecular mechanisms by which cell fate is coordinated with cell proliferation and survival during animal development and disease. The lab is particularly interested in understanding the roles and regulation of the transcriptional regulators YAP and TAZ (YAP/TAZ), which are key effectors of the Hippo signaling pathway.

YAP/TAZ integrate cell polarity and mechanical cues with information relayed by growth factors and chemicals to direct essential processes and maintain organ homeostasis. The lab is incorporating genetic and biochemical approaches to define how YAP/TAZ control developmental events, and how dysregulation of YAP/TAZ activity contributes the etiology of various diseases, such as cancer.

Member
Boston University
BU-BMC Cancer Center


Member
Boston University
Pulmonary Center


Member
Boston University
Center for Regenerative Medicine


Member
Boston University
Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research


Member
Boston University
Genome Science Institute


Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students)
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences




Defining the Beta-catenin/CBP axis in head and neck cancer
12/07/2020 - 11/30/2025 (Multi-PI)
PI: Xaralabos Varelas, PhD
NIH/National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research
5R01DE030350-02

Defining epithelial polarity cues that direct cell fate
02/15/2020 - 01/31/2025 (PI)
NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
5R01HL124392-08

Defining molecular signals that influence airway basal cell renewal and growth
01/01/2020 - 06/30/2023 (Key Person / Mentor)
NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
5F31HL149381-03

Mechanobiology of Lung Fibrosis
04/03/2019 - 03/31/2023 (Subcontract PI)
Mayo Clinic NIH NHLBI
5R01HL092961-12

Intercepting aberrant YAP/TAZ activity for the treatment of lung cancer
12/29/2017 - 12/31/2022 (PI)
Janssen Research & Development, LLC


Understanding aberrant YAP signaling in squamous cell lung cancer
07/01/2017 - 12/31/2022 (PI)
American Cancer Society, Inc.


Mechanotransduction and YAP/TAZ Signaling in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
01/01/2018 - 12/31/2021 (Subcontract PI)
The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc. NIH NHLBI
5R01HL137366-04

Defining non-nuclear roles for Yap in the development of multi-ciliated cells
04/01/2018 - 03/31/2021 (PI)
NIH/National Institute of Child Health & Human Development
5R21HD094012-02

YAP/TAZ-NRG1 crosstalk in airway epithelial cell fate control
03/01/2019 - 02/28/2021 (Key Person / Mentor)
NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
5F31HL146163-02

Defining Epithelial Cell Polarity Cues That Direct Cell Fate
08/15/2014 - 02/14/2020 (PI)
NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
5R01HL124392-05

Showing 10 of 24 results. Show All Results


Title


Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs
2023 Defining the ß-catenin/CBP-catenin/CBP axis in head and neck cancer 5R01DE030350-03
2023 Defining epithelial polarity cues that direct cell fate 5R01HL124392-09
2022 Defining the ß-catenin/CBP-catenin/CBP axis in head and neck cancer 5R01DE030350-02
2022 Defining epithelial polarity cues that direct cell fate 5R01HL124392-08
2021 Enhancement and Cloud Deployment of CaDrA, a software tool for Candidate Driver Analysis of Multiomics Data 3R01DE030350-01A1S1
2021 Defining the β-catenin/CBP-catenin/CBP axis in head and neck cancer 1R01DE030350-01A1
2021 Defining epithelial polarity cues that direct cell fate 5R01HL124392-07 17
2020 Defining epithelial polarity cues that direct cell fate 2R01HL124392-06 17
2019 Defining non-nuclear roles for Yap in the development of multi-ciliated cells 5R21HD094012-02
2018 Defining non-nuclear roles for Yap in the development of multi-ciliated cells 1R21HD094012-01
Showing 10 of 15 results. Show All Results

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

iCite Analysis       Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

  1. Raslan AA, Pham TX, Lee J, Hong J, Schmottlach J, Nicolas K, Dinc T, Bujor AM, Caporarello N, Thiriot A, von Andrian UH, Huang SK, Nicosia RF, Trojanowska M, Varelas X, Ligresti G. Single Cell Transcriptomics of Fibrotic Lungs Unveils Aging-associated Alterations in Endothelial and Epithelial Cell Regeneration. bioRxiv. 2023 Jan 20.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36712020; PMCID: PMC9882122; DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.17.523179;
     
  2. Burgess CL, Huang J, Bawa P, Alysandratos KD, Minakin K, Morley MP, Babu A, Villacorta-Martin C, Hinds A, Thapa BR, Wang F, Matschulat AM, Morrisey EE, Varelas X, Kotton DN. Generation of human alveolar epithelial type I cells from pluripotent stem cells. bioRxiv. 2023 Jan 20.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36711505; PMCID: PMC9882278; DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.19.524655;
     
  3. Kern JG, Tilston-Lunel AM, Federico A, Ning B, Mueller A, Peppler GB, Stampouloglou E, Cheng N, Johnson RL, Lenburg ME, Beane JE, Monti S, Varelas X. Inactivation of LATS1/2 drives luminal-basal plasticity to initiate basal-like mammary carcinomas. Nat Commun. 2022 Nov 28; 13(1):7198.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36443313; PMCID: PMC9705439; DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34864-8;
     
  4. Rohban MH, Fuller AM, Tan C, Goldstein JT, Syangtan D, Gutnick A, DeVine A, Nijsure MP, Rigby M, Sacher JR, Corsello SM, Peppler GB, Bogaczynska M, Boghossian A, Ciotti GE, Hands AT, Mekareeya A, Doan M, Gale JP, Derynck R, Turbyville T, Boerckel JD, Singh S, Kiessling LL, Schwarz TL, Varelas X, Wagner FF, Kafri R, Eisinger-Mathason TSK, Carpenter AE. Virtual screening for small-molecule pathway regulators by image-profile matching. Cell Syst. 2022 Sep 21; 13(9):724-736.e9. PMID: 36057257; PMCID: PMC9509476; DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2022.08.003;
     
  5. Shirai T, Sekai M, Kozawa K, Sato N, Tanimura N, Kon S, Matsumoto T, Murakami T, Ito S, Tilston-Lunel A, Varelas X, Fujita Y. Basal extrusion of single-oncogenic mutant cells induces dome-like structures with altered microenvironments. Cancer Sci. 2022 Nov; 113(11):3710-3721.View Related Profiles. PMID: 35816400; PMCID: PMC9633292; DOI: 10.1111/cas.15483;
     
  6. Brosinsky P, Leister H, Cheng N, Varelas X, Visekruna A, Luu M. Verteporfin protects against Th17 cell-mediated EAE independently of YAP inhibition. Eur J Immunol. 2022 Sep; 52(9):1523-1526. PMID: 35776890
     
  7. Vittoria MA, Kingston N, Kotynkova K, Xia E, Hong R, Huang L, McDonald S, Tilston-Lunel A, Darp R, Campbell JD, Lang D, Xu X, Ceol CJ, Varelas X, Ganem NJ. Inactivation of the Hippo tumor suppressor pathway promotes melanoma. Nat Commun. 2022 Jun 29; 13(1):3732.View Related Profiles. PMID: 35768444; PMCID: PMC9243107; DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31399-w;
     
  8. Alhousami T, Diny M, Ali F, Shin J, Kumar G, Kumar V, Campbell JD, Noonan V, Hanna GJ, Denis GV, Monti S, Kukuruzinska MA, Varelas X, Bais MV. Inhibition of LSD1 Attenuates Oral Cancer Development and Promotes Therapeutic Efficacy of Immune Checkpoint Blockade and YAP/TAZ Inhibition. Mol Cancer Res. 2022 May 04; 20(5):712-721.View Related Profiles. PMID: 35105672; PMCID: PMC9081163; DOI: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-21-0310;
     
  9. Rabhi N, Desevin K, Belkina AC, Tilston-Lunel A, Varelas X, Layne MD, Farmer SR. Obesity-induced senescent macrophages activate a fibrotic transcriptional program in adipocyte progenitors. Life Sci Alliance. 2022 05; 5(5).View Related Profiles. PMID: 35181634; PMCID: PMC8860101; DOI: 10.26508/lsa.202101286;
     
  10. Na E, Allen E, Baird LA, Odom CV, Korkmaz FT, Shenoy AT, Matschulat AM, Jones MR, Kotton DN, Mizgerd JP, Varelas X, Traber KE, Quinton LJ. Epithelial LIF signaling limits apoptosis and lung injury during bacterial pneumonia. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2022 Apr 01; 322(4):L550-L563.View Related Profiles. PMID: 35137631; PMCID: PMC8957336; DOI: 10.1152/ajplung.00325.2021;
     
Showing 10 of 73 results. Show More

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 73 publications over 19 distinct years, with a maximum of 8 publications in 2017 and 2020 and 2021 and 2022

YearPublications
20031
20051
20061
20081
20092
20102
20113
20121
20134
20146
20154
20162
20178
20184
20197
20208
20218
20228
20232
Contact for Mentoring:

72 E. Concord St
Boston MA 02118
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