Caleb Lareau Secures 2026 Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Chemotherapy Innovation

About the role

Caleb Lareau, a computational biologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, has been named a recipient of the 2026 Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Prize.

Targeting Toxicity Without Compromising Efficacy

• Developing engineered protein “sponges” to absorb and neutralize chemotherapy drugs only outside tumor sites.
• Aim to preserve the drug’s anti-cancer activity within tumors while reducing systemic toxicity.

Engineering Precision: A New Direction in Drug Delivery

• Designing novel proteins with high specificity to bind chemotherapy agents.
• Integrating advanced protein engineering with high-throughput screening and preclinical modeling.
• Goal is to enable higher, more effective chemotherapy dosing without increasing harm to patients.

Expanding Opportunities for Early-Career Scientists

• The 2026 Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Prize doubles the number of awardees and extends eligibility to institutions across the United States.
• Recipients gain access to a broader platform, presenting their work to scientific and industry audiences.
• Fosters collaboration and accelerates the translation of promising discoveries into clinical impact.

A Research Program at the Intersection of Biology and Technology

• Dr. Lareau serves as an assistant member in the Computational and Systems Biology Program at MSK.
• Research focuses on understanding cell adaptation, expansion, and evolution, with a strong emphasis on technology development.
• Education background includes a PhD from Harvard Medical School and postdoctoral training at Stanford University School of Medicine.
• Laboratory advances tools integrating computational biology with experimental systems, addressing complex questions in cancer and chronic disease.

Beyond Cancer: Insights Into Viral Biology and Chronic Disease

• Contributed to research exploring the relationship between viral infections and long-term health outcomes.
• Published a study in Nature identifying genetic variants associated with elevated activity of Epstein-Barr virus and increased risk of chronic disease.
• Laboratory involved in the Human Virome Program, mapping viruses present in the human body and understanding their influence on health and disease.