Molecular Pharmacology Program

The Richard Kolesnick Lab

Richard N. Kolesnick, MD

Our laboratory focuses on the role of sphingolipid signaling as a stress response. In this pathway, generation of the second messenger ceramide in response to diverse environmental and pharmacologic stresses (heat, ionizing radiation, ultraviolet light, chemotherapeutic agents, oxidative challenges, etc.) occurs either by degradation of sphingomyelin or by de novo synthesis. The quality and quantity of the ceramide response, in combination with other signals, determines whether adaptation or apoptosis ensues. This pathway is evolutionarily conserved and is obligate for the heat shock response in yeast.

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Research Projects

Featured News

Media Advisory

Antibody Therapy Prevents Gastrointestinal Damage following Radiation Exposure in Mice

A new study offers the first evidence of a drug capable of preventing lethal damage to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract caused by exposure to high levels of ionizing radiation, such as those occurring during a nuclear incident.

Publications Highlights

Bodo S, Campagne C, Thin TH, Higginson DS, Vargas HA, Hua G, Fuller JD, Ackerstaff E, Russell J, Zhang Z, Klingler S, Cho H, Kaag MG, Mazaheri Y, Rimner A, Manova-Todorova K, Epel B, Zatcky J, Cleary CR, Rao SS, Yamada Y, Zelefsky MJ, Halpern HJ, Koutcher JA, Cordon-Cardo C, Greco C, Haimovitz-Friedman A, Sala E, Powell SN, Kolesnick R, Fuks Z. Single-dose radiotherapy disables tumor cell homologous recombination via ischemia/reperfusion injury. J Clin Invest. 2018; pii: 97631.

Martin ML, Zeng Z, Adileh M, Jacobo A, Li C, Vakiani E, Hua G, Zhang L, Haimovitz-Friedman A, Fuks Z, Kolesnick R*, Paty PB*. Logarithmic expansion of LGR5⁺ cells in human colorectal cancer. Cell Signal. 2018; 42:97-105. doi: 10.1016/j.cellsig.2017.09.018. * Equal co-author.

Van Hell AJ, Haimovitz-Friedman A, Fuks Z, Tap WD, Kolesnick R. Gemcitabine kills proliferating endothelial cells exclusively via acid sphingomyelinase activation. Cell Signal. 2017; 34:86-91. doi: 10.1016/j.cellsig.2017.02.021.

Zhang L, Adileh M, Martin ML, Klingler S, White J, Ma X, Howe LR, Brown AM, Kolesnick R. Establishing estrogen-responsive mouse mammary organoids from single Lgr5+ cells. Cell Signal. 2017; 29:41-51. doi: 10.1016/j.cellsig.2016.08.001.

Hua G, Yan Pan CW, Zeng Z, Lee SG, Martin ML, Haimovitz-Friedman A, Fuks Z, Paty PB, Kolesnick R. Distinct levels of radioresistance in Lgr5+ colonic epithelial stem cells versus Lgr5+ small intestinal stem cells. Cancer Res 2017; 77:2124-2133. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-15-2870.

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People

Richard N. Kolesnick, MD

Physician-scientist Richard Kolesnick studies the role of ceramide signaling in radiation-induced vascular dysfunction and tumor regression.
MD, University of Chicago School of Medicine

r-kolesnick@ski.mskcc.org: Email Address
646-888-2174: Office Phone
View physician profile: Physician profile

Members

Regina Feldman, MD — Regina Feldman
Senior Research Technician

Sahra Bodo, PhD — Sahra Bodo
Research Fellow

Zeinab Fereshteh

Research Fellow

Aditya Ganju, PhD — Aditya Ganju
Research Fellow

Kuo Shun Hsu, PhD — Kuo Shun Hsu
Research Fellow

Stefan Klingler, PhD — Stefan Klingler
Research Fellow

Hilda Polanco

SKI Administrative Assistant

Tambudzai Shamu, MPhil — Tambudzai Shamu
Laboratory Manager

Lab Alumni

Bassem Khalil, PhD — Bassem Khalil
Research Fellow

Thivashnee Sharma

Lab Affiliations

Open Positions

To learn more about available postdoctoral opportunities, please visit our Career Center

To learn more about compensation and benefits for postdoctoral researchers at MSK, please visit Resources for Postdocs

Get in Touch

r-kolesnick@ski.mskcc.org

Lab Head Email
646-888-2174

Office Phone
646-422-0281

Office Fax
646-888-2176

Lab Phone

Disclosures

Doctors and faculty members often work with pharmaceutical, device, biotechnology, and life sciences companies, and other organizations outside of MSK, to find safe and effective cancer treatments, to improve patient care, and to educate the health care community.

MSK requires doctors and faculty members to report (“disclose”) the relationships and financial interests they have with external entities. As a commitment to transparency with our community, we make that information available to the public.

Richard N. Kolesnick discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

Ceramedix
Equity; Intellectual Property Rights

The information published here is a complement to other publicly reported data and is for a specific annual disclosure period. There may be differences between information on this and other public sites as a result of different reporting periods and/or the various ways relationships and financial interests are categorized by organizations that publish such data.

This page and data include information for a specific MSK annual disclosure period (January 1, 2023 through disclosure submission in spring 2024). This data reflects interests that may or may not still exist. This data is updated annually.

Learn more about MSK’s COI policies here. For questions regarding MSK’s COI-related policies and procedures, email MSK’s Compliance Office at ecoi@mskcc.org.

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