Philipp Oberdoerffer, MS, PhD

Dr. Oberdoerffer is an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. His laboratory has made several important contributions highlighting how the epigenetic control of genome maintenance determines the cellular response to DNA damage, and ultimately malignant transformation.

Dr. Oberdoerffer received his Ph. D. in mouse genetics and immunology from the University of Cologne, Germany, and went on to pursue studies on the molecular biology of aging as a postdoc at Harvard Medical School. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins Medicine, Dr. Oberdoerffer directed a research laboratory at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), where he last served as a program director for DNA replication and genome instability in the Division of Cancer Biology (DCB). During his time in DCB, Dr. Oberdoerffer administratively co-lead the Human Tumor Atlas Network (HTAN), an NCI Cancer Moonshot Program tasked to construct 3-dimensional atlases of human cancer evolution.

The Oberdoerffer lab uses a combination of molecular biology, epigenetics, imaging and mouse genetics, to investigate how epigenetic context can be manipulated to alter DNA repair pathways, and thereby prevent or interfere with malignant growth. Recent research interests further include the modulation of DNA repair outcomes through nuclear RNAs and their modifications. Dr. Oberdoerffer’s work has been recognized by the NCI Director’s Innovation award and a Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program Breakthrough Award.

Dr. Oberdoerffer has research grant funding through the National Cancer Institute R01, R61 (Innovative Molecular Technologies) and P50 (SPORE) research programs, as well as the National Institute for General Medical Sciences R35 program, to support the lab’s efforts in defining and exploiting epigenetic mechanisms to modulate (cancer) genome maintenance.

Dr. Oberdoerffer lectures nationally and internationally. He is the Editor-in-Chief for Chromosoma and Associate Editor for Frontiers in Genetics. Dr. Oberdoerffer serves as Translational Research Liaison for the Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences.