Dr. Andrew Weng attended Stanford University for his undergraduate studies in Biological Sciences and then obtained his MD and PhD degrees at the University of Chicago/Pritzker School of Medicine. He did his clinical residency training in Anatomic Pathology with a fellowship in hematopathology, followed by four years of postdoctoral research training at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. In 2004, he was recruited as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia (UBC) and started his own research lab at BC Cancer Agency (BCCA).  He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011, and then full Professor in 2018. Dr. Weng is also a staff hematopathologist, Director of both the clinical flow cytometry and research core flow cytometry labs, as well as Medical Director of the Stem Cell Assay lab. Dr. Weng’s research program focuses on the pathogenetic mechanisms in acute lymphoblastic leukemia and tumor heterogeneity in B-cell lymphoma. He is currently funded by 2 CIHR project grants and 2 TFRI program project grants.

Affiliations

Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia

Credentials

Education:

  • MD (Pritzker School of Medicine), University of Chicago, 1997
  • PhD (Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology), University of Chicago, 1995
  • BS (Biological Sciences), Stanford University, 1989

Post-Graduate Training:

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Pathology (Supervisor: Dr. Jon Aster)
    Brigham & Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School
    July 2000 – May 2004
  • Clinical Fellow in Hematopathology
    Brigham & Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School
    July 1999 – June 2000
  • Resident in Anatomic Pathology
    Brigham & Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School
    July 1997 – June 1999

Professional Experience (Research):

  • Distinguished Scientist, Terry Fox Laboratory, BC Cancer Agency (BCCA), 2018-present
  • Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia (UBC), 2018-present
  • Scientific Director, Flow Core Laboratory, BCCA, 2014-present
  • Associate Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, UBC, 2011-2018
  • Senior Scientist, Terry Fox Laboratory, BCCA, 2005-2018
  • Medical Director, Stem Cell Assay Laboratory, BCCA, 2012-present
  • Assistant Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, UBC, 2004-2011
  • Clinician Scientist, Department of Pathology, BCCA, 2004-present
  • Instructor, Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, 2001-2006

Professional Experience (Clinical):

  • Consulting Staff, Department of Pathology, Hematopathology Division, Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), 2016-present
  • Director, Hematopathology, BCCA, 2006-2011
  • Director, Clinical Flow Cytometry Lab, BCCA, 2005-present
  • Hematopathologist, BCCA, 2004-present
  • Hematopathologist, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 2001-2004
  • Associate Pathologist, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, 2001-2004

Expertise:

  • Hematology
  • Hematopathology
  • Leukemia
  • Lymphoma
  • Notch Signaling

Projects

Leukemia stem cells in T-ALL

We are continuing our work examining the roles of PKCθ and Wnt signaling, as well as pursuing exciting new leads emanating from our human cord blood model, in establishing/maintaining leukemia stem cell activity in T-ALL.

In the PKCθ project, we have taken a biochemical approach to dissecting downstream pathways. We developed an analog-specific kinase variant of PKCθ, followed by discovery mode mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) to define direct kinase targets, and are pursuing functional validation of hits. This work is being done in collaboration with Gregg Morin at BCCA.

Tumor ecosystem in human lymphoma

We are using mass cytometry (CyTOF) paired with single cell genomics approaches to characterize both inter- and intra-tumoral heterogeneity in human B-cell lymphomas. We are examining malignant B cell populations as well as infiltrating immune cell populations (predominantly T-cells). We are focusing this work on two common types of lymphoma, follicular lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. We access clinical specimens from the prodigious lymphoma tumor bank established at BCCA.

Pathogenetic mechanisms in T-ALL

Using our recently developed cord blood transduction approach, we are able to generate synthetic T-ALL by de novo transformation of normal human hematopoietic progenitors with activated NOTCH1 in combination with accessory oncogenes (M. Kusakabe et al, Nature Communications, 2019). This model generates polyclonal expansions of pre-leukemia cells in vitro within 3-4 weeks, which then produce clonal T-ALL disease within 3 months after injection into immunodeficient mice. Using this model, we are actively exploring the following areas:

Selected Publications

TBL1XR1 Mutations Drive Extranodal Lymphoma by Inducing a Pro-tumorigenic Memory Fate.

Cell, 2020
Venturutti, Leandro, Teater, Matt, Zhai, Andrew, Chadburn, Amy, Babiker, Leena, Kim, Daleum, Béguelin, Wendy, Lee, Tak C, Kim, Youngjun, Chin, Christopher R, Yewdell, William T, Raught, Brian, Phillip, Jude M, Jiang, Yanwen, Staudt, Louis M, Green, Michael R, Chaudhuri, Jayanta, Elemento, Olivier, Farinha, Pedro, Weng, Andrew P, Nissen, Michael D, Steidl, Christian, Morin, Ryan D, Scott, David W, Privé, Gilbert G, Melnick, Ari M
Learn More

TMEM30A loss-of-function mutations drive lymphomagenesis and confer therapeutically exploitable vulnerability in B-cell lymphoma.

Nature medicine, 2020
Ennishi, Daisuke, Healy, Shannon, Bashashati, Ali, Saberi, Saeed, Hother, Christoffer, Mottok, Anja, Chan, Fong Chun, Chong, Lauren, Abraham, Libin, Kridel, Robert, Boyle, Merrill, Meissner, Barbara, Aoki, Tomohiro, Takata, Katsuyoshi, Woolcock, Bruce W, Viganò, Elena, Gold, Michael, Molday, Laurie L, Molday, Robert S, Telenius, Adele, Li, Michael Y, Wretham, Nicole, Dos Santos, Nancy, Wong, Mark, Viller, Natasja N, Uger, Robert A, Duns, Gerben, Baticados, Abigail, Madero, Angel, Bristow, Brianna N, Farinha, Pedro, Slack, Graham W, Ben-Neriah, Susana, Lai, Daniel, Zhang, Allen W, Salehi, Sohrab, Shulha, Hennady P, Chiu, Derek S, Mostafavi, Sara, Gerrie, Alina S, Huang, Da Wei, Rushton, Christopher, Villa, Diego, Sehn, Laurie H, Savage, Kerry J, Mungall, Andrew J, Weng, Andrew P, Bally, Marcel B, Morin, Ryan D, Cohen Freue, Gabriela V, Staudt, Louis M, Connors, Joseph M, Marra, Marco A, Shah, Sohrab P, Gascoyne, Randy D, Scott, David W, Steidl, Christian
Learn More

Ultrasensitive Detection of NOTCH1 c.7544_7545delCT Mutations in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia by Droplet Digital PCR Reveals High Frequency of Subclonal Mutations and Predicts Clinical Outcome in Cases with Trisomy 12.

The Journal of molecular diagnostics : JMD, 2020
Hoofd, Catherine, Huang, Steven J, Gusscott, Samuel, Lam, Sonya, Wong, Rachel, Johnston, Alexa, Ben-Neriah, Susana, Steidl, Christian, Scott, David W, Bruyere, Helene, Gillan, Tanya L, Toze, Cynthia L, Gerrie, Alina S, Weng, Andrew P
Learn More

Single Cell Phenotypic Profiling of 27 DLBCL Cases Reveals Marked Intertumoral and Intratumoral Heterogeneity.

Cytometry. Part A : the journal of the International Society for Analytical Cytology, 2020
Nissen, Michael D, Kusakabe, Manabu, Wang, Xuehai, Simkin, Guillermo, Gracias, Deanne, Tyshchenko, Kateryna, Hill, Ainsleigh, Meskas, Justin, Hung, Stacy, Chavez, Elizabeth A, Ennishi, Daisuke, Aoki, Tomohiro, Sarkozy, Clementine, Connors, Joseph M, Farinha, Pedro, Slack, Graham W, Gascoyne, Randy D, Brinkman, Ryan R, Scott, David W, Steidl, Christian, Weng, Andrew P
Learn More

Avadomide monotherapy in relapsed/refractory DLBCL: safety, efficacy, and a predictive gene classifier.

Blood, 2020
Carpio, Cecilia, Bouabdallah, Reda, Ysebaert, Loïc, Sancho, Juan-Manuel, Salles, Gilles, Cordoba, Raul, Pinto, Antonio, Gharibo, Mecide, Rasco, Drew, Panizo, Carlos, Lopez-Martin, Jose A, Santoro, Armando, Salar, Antonio, Damian, Silvia, Martin, Alejandro, Verhoef, Gregor, Van den Neste, Eric, Wang, Maria, Couto, Suzana, Carrancio, Soraya, Weng, Andrew, Wang, Xuehai, Schmitz, Frank, Wei, Xin, Hege, Kristen, Trotter, Matthew W B, Risueño, Alberto, Buchholz, Tonia J, Hagner, Patrick R, Gandhi, Anita K, Pourdehnad, Michael, Ribrag, Vincent
Learn More

Single-Cell Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Disease-Defining T-cell Subsets in the Tumor Microenvironment of Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Cancer discovery, 2020
Aoki, Tomohiro, Chong, Lauren C, Takata, Katsuyoshi, Milne, Katy, Hav, Monirath, Colombo, Anthony, Chavez, Elizabeth A, Nissen, Michael, Wang, Xuehai, Miyata-Takata, Tomoko, Lam, Vivian, Viganò, Elena, Woolcock, Bruce W, Telenius, Adèle, Li, Michael Y, Healy, Shannon, Ghesquiere, Chanel, Kos, Daniel, Goodyear, Talia, Veldman, Johanna, Zhang, Allen W, Kim, Jubin, Saberi, Saeed, Ding, Jiarui, Farinha, Pedro, Weng, Andrew P, Savage, Kerry J, Scott, David W, Krystal, Gerald, Nelson, Brad H, Mottok, Anja, Merchant, Akil, Shah, Sohrab P, Steidl, Christian
Learn More

Fanconi-BRCA pathway mutations in childhood T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

PloS one, 2019
Pouliot, Gayle P, Degar, James, Hinze, Laura, Kochupurakkal, Bose, Vo, Chau D, Burns, Melissa A, Moreau, Lisa, Ganesa, Chirag, Roderick, Justine, Peirs, Sofie, Menten, Bjorn, Loh, Mignon L, Hunger, Stephen P, Silverman, Lewis B, Harris, Marian H, Stevenson, Kristen E, Weinstock, David M, Weng, Andrew P, Van Vlierberghe, Pieter, D'Andrea, Alan D, Gutierrez, Alejandro
Learn More

Probabilistic cell-type assignment of single-cell RNA-seq for tumor microenvironment profiling.

Nature methods, 2019
Zhang, Allen W, O'Flanagan, Ciara, Chavez, Elizabeth A, Lim, Jamie L P, Ceglia, Nicholas, McPherson, Andrew, Wiens, Matt, Walters, Pascale, Chan, Tim, Hewitson, Brittany, Lai, Daniel, Mottok, Anja, Sarkozy, Clementine, Chong, Lauren, Aoki, Tomohiro, Wang, Xuehai, Weng, Andrew P, McAlpine, Jessica N, Aparicio, Samuel, Steidl, Christian, Campbell, Kieran R, Shah, Sohrab P
Learn More

Synthetic modeling reveals HOXB genes are critical for the initiation and maintenance of human leukemia.

Nature communications, 2019
Kusakabe, Manabu, Sun, Ann Chong, Tyshchenko, Kateryna, Wong, Rachel, Nanda, Aastha, Shanna, Claire, Gusscott, Samuel, Chavez, Elizabeth A, Lorzadeh, Alireza, Zhu, Alice, Hill, Ainsleigh, Hung, Stacy, Brown, Scott, Babaian, Artem, Wang, Xuehai, Holt, Robert A, Steidl, Christian, Karsan, Aly, Humphries, R Keith, Eaves, Connie J, Hirst, Martin, Weng, Andrew P
Learn More

The Public Repository of Xenografts Enables Discovery and Randomized Phase II-like Trials in Mice.

Cancer cell, 2016
Townsend, Elizabeth C, Murakami, Mark A, Christodoulou, Alexandra, Christie, Amanda L, Köster, Johannes, DeSouza, Tiffany A, Morgan, Elizabeth A, Kallgren, Scott P, Liu, Huiyun, Wu, Shuo-Chieh, Plana, Olivia, Montero, Joan, Stevenson, Kristen E, Rao, Prakash, Vadhi, Raga, Andreeff, Michael, Armand, Philippe, Ballen, Karen K, Barzaghi-Rinaudo, Patrizia, Cahill, Sarah, Clark, Rachael A, Cooke, Vesselina G, Davids, Matthew S, DeAngelo, Daniel J, Dorfman, David M, Eaton, Hilary, Ebert, Benjamin L, Etchin, Julia, Firestone, Brant, Fisher, David C, Freedman, Arnold S, Galinsky, Ilene A, Gao, Hui, Garcia, Jacqueline S, Garnache-Ottou, Francine, Graubert, Timothy A, Gutierrez, Alejandro, Halilovic, Ensar, Harris, Marian H, Herbert, Zachary T, Horwitz, Steven M, Inghirami, Giorgio, Intlekofer, Andrew M, Ito, Moriko, Izraeli, Shai, Jacobsen, Eric D, Jacobson, Caron A, Jeay, Sébastien, Jeremias, Irmela, Kelliher, Michelle A, Koch, Raphael, Konopleva, Marina, Kopp, Nadja, Kornblau, Steven M, Kung, Andrew L, Kupper, Thomas S, LeBoeuf, Nicole R, LaCasce, Ann S, Lees, Emma, Li, Loretta S, Look, A Thomas, Murakami, Masato, Muschen, Markus, Neuberg, Donna, Ng, Samuel Y, Odejide, Oreofe O, Orkin, Stuart H, Paquette, Rachel R, Place, Andrew E, Roderick, Justine E, Ryan, Jeremy A, Sallan, Stephen E, Shoji, Brent, Silverman, Lewis B, Soiffer, Robert J, Steensma, David P, Stegmaier, Kimberly, Stone, Richard M, Tamburini, Jerome, Thorner, Aaron R, van Hummelen, Paul, Wadleigh, Martha, Wiesmann, Marion, Weng, Andrew P, Wuerthner, Jens U, Williams, David A, Wollison, Bruce M, Lane, Andrew A, Letai, Anthony, Bertagnolli, Monica M, Ritz, Jerome, Brown, Myles, Long, Henry, Aster, Jon C, Shipp, Margaret A, Griffin, James D, Weinstock, David M
Learn More

The Public Repository of Xenografts Enables Discovery and Randomized Phase II-like Trials in Mice.

Cancer cell, 2016
Townsend, Elizabeth C, Murakami, Mark A, Christodoulou, Alexandra, Christie, Amanda L, Köster, Johannes, DeSouza, Tiffany A, Morgan, Elizabeth A, Kallgren, Scott P, Liu, Huiyun, Wu, Shuo-Chieh, Plana, Olivia, Montero, Joan, Stevenson, Kristen E, Rao, Prakash, Vadhi, Raga, Andreeff, Michael, Armand, Philippe, Ballen, Karen K, Barzaghi-Rinaudo, Patrizia, Cahill, Sarah, Clark, Rachael A, Cooke, Vesselina G, Davids, Matthew S, DeAngelo, Daniel J, Dorfman, David M, Eaton, Hilary, Ebert, Benjamin L, Etchin, Julia, Firestone, Brant, Fisher, David C, Freedman, Arnold S, Galinsky, Ilene A, Gao, Hui, Garcia, Jacqueline S, Garnache-Ottou, Francine, Graubert, Timothy A, Gutierrez, Alejandro, Halilovic, Ensar, Harris, Marian H, Herbert, Zachary T, Horwitz, Steven M, Inghirami, Giorgio, Intlekofer, Andrew M, Ito, Moriko, Izraeli, Shai, Jacobsen, Eric D, Jacobson, Caron A, Jeay, Sébastien, Jeremias, Irmela, Kelliher, Michelle A, Koch, Raphael, Konopleva, Marina, Kopp, Nadja, Kornblau, Steven M, Kung, Andrew L, Kupper, Thomas S, LeBoeuf, Nicole R, LaCasce, Ann S, Lees, Emma, Li, Loretta S, Look, A Thomas, Murakami, Masato, Muschen, Markus, Neuberg, Donna, Ng, Samuel Y, Odejide, Oreofe O, Orkin, Stuart H, Paquette, Rachel R, Place, Andrew E, Roderick, Justine E, Ryan, Jeremy A, Sallan, Stephen E, Shoji, Brent, Silverman, Lewis B, Soiffer, Robert J, Steensma, David P, Stegmaier, Kimberly, Stone, Richard M, Tamburini, Jerome, Thorner, Aaron R, van Hummelen, Paul, Wadleigh, Martha, Wiesmann, Marion, Weng, Andrew P, Wuerthner, Jens U, Williams, David A, Wollison, Bruce M, Lane, Andrew A, Letai, Anthony, Bertagnolli, Monica M, Ritz, Jerome, Brown, Myles, Long, Henry, Aster, Jon C, Shipp, Margaret A, Griffin, James D, Weinstock, David M
Learn More
Back to top