Dr. John Krais joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Oncology as an Assistant Professor as of August 2023. He is trained in Bioengineering as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh where his research experiences focused on image analyses and computational techniques. He then attended graduate school at the Center for Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. There, in the laboratory of Dr. Roger Harrison, he developed targeted drug delivery strategies for the treatment of breast cancers and methods for analyzing targeting efficiency in vivo with mouse breast cancer models.
After obtaining a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, Dr. Krais joined the laboratory of Dr. Neil Johnson at Fox Chase Cancer Center to work with PARP inhibitors for the targeted treatment of breast and ovarian cancers with defects in BRCA1/2-mediated DNA damage response pathways. Shortly afterwards, PARP inhibitors gained FDA approval and it became clear that targeting the DNA damage response has enormous potential for the treatment of cancers, however much additional work is required to maximize the potential benefits for all patients. Dr. Krais’ subsequent studies assessed PARP inhibitor mechanism of action, mechanisms of therapy resistance, and targeting compensatory DNA repair mechanisms.
In 2023 Dr. Krais joined the Washington University School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor and core member of the Center for Genome Integrity with the goal of developing a research program that advances our understanding of the DNA damage response to drive the development of new therapeutics. To pursue this objective, Dr. Krais’ laboratory uses state-of-the-art high resolution microscopy and genomics approaches alongside the development of transgenic mouse and isogenic cell line model systems to better understand how the genetics of a cancer can lead to specific vulnerabilities in the DNA damage response. His research interests center on the DNA damage response and how to apply new discoveries to the treatment of cancer.