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G. Mike Makrigiorgos, PhD


Researcher

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G. Mike Makrigiorgos, PhD

Researcher

  • Professor of Radiation Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School
  • Director of the Medical Physics and Biophysics Division, Department of Radiation Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital

Centers/Programs

Clinical Interests

  • Cancer genomics
  • Liquid biopsies

Contact Information

  • Office Phone Number(617) 525-7122
  • Fax(617) 582-6037

Bio

Dr Makrigiorgos graduated from the University of Athens, Greece in 1981 (BSc) and from the University of Leeds, UK in 1984 (Ph.D). Following a postdoctoral fellowship in radiation biology at Harvard Medical School he joined the faculty of the Joint Center for Radiation Therapy, Harvard Medical School. He is currently the Director of the Medical Physics and Biophysics Division of the joint department of radiation therapy at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a Professor at Harvard Medical School. He is as ABR-certified radiation oncology physicist, an NIH-funded principal investigator of a DNA technology laboratory and director of a radiation pre-clinical facility. He is on the Editorial Board of Clinical Chemistry and has published over 150 articles, reviews and book chapters.

Board Certification:

  • American Board of Medical Physics
  • American Board of Radiology Equivalency

Research



Technology development for liquid biopsy and mutational profiling of cancer


We are developing technologies for molecular profiling of human tumors. In particular, we have devised technologies for detecting low-level DNA mutations, micro-satellite instability and methylation in clinical samples. We are using these new technologies to improve detection of cancer DNA biomarkers in human blood (‘liquid biopsies’), for the purpose of early detection of cancer, and for monitoring the progress of radio/chemotherapy or for detection of minimal residual disease. Ongoing clinical studies are evaluating these biomarkers in radiation oncology and medical oncology patients.



Ladas I, Yu F, Leong KW, Fitarelli-Kiehl M, Song C, Ashtaputre R, Kulke M, Mamon H, Makrigiorgos GM. Enhanced detection of microsatellite instability using pre-PCR elimination of wild-type DNA homo-polymers in tissue and liquid biopsies. Nucleic Acids Res 2018. PubMed

Rios Velazquez E, Parmar C, Liu Y, Coroller TP, Cruz G, Stringfield O, Ye Z, Makrigiorgos M, Fennessy F, Mak RH, Gillies R, Quackenbush J, Aerts HJWL. Somatic Mutations Drive Distinct Imaging Phenotypes in Lung Cancer. Cancer Res 2017. PubMed

Liu Y, Song C, Ladas I, Fitarelli-Kiehl M, Makrigiorgos GM. Methylation-sensitive enrichment of minor DNA alleles using a double-strand DNA-specific nuclease. Nucleic Acids Res 2016. PubMed

Song C, Liu Y, Fontana R, Makrigiorgos A, Mamon H, Kulke MH, Makrigiorgos GM. Elimination of unaltered DNA in mixed clinical samples via nuclease-assisted minor-allele enrichment. Nucleic Acids Res 2016. PubMed

Kunjachan S, Detappe A, Kumar R, Ireland T, Cameron L, Biancur DE, Motto-Ros V, Sancey L, Sridhar S, Makrigiorgos GM, Berbeco RI. Nanoparticle Mediated Tumor Vascular Disruption: A Novel Strategy in Radiation Therapy. Nano Lett 2015; 15:7488-96. PubMed

Herter-Sprie GS, Korideck H, Christensen CL, Herter JM, Rhee K, Berbeco RI, Bennett DG, Akbay EA, Kozono D, Mak RH, Mike Makrigiorgos G, Kimmelman AC, Wong KK. Image-guided radiotherapy platform using single nodule conditional lung cancer mouse models. Nat Commun 2014; 5:5870. PubMed

Guha M, Castellanos-Rizaldos E, Liu P, Mamon H, Makrigiorgos GM. Differential strand separation at critical temperature: a minimally disruptive enrichment method for low-abundance unknown DNA mutations. Nucleic Acids Res 2013; 41:e50. PubMed

Berbeco RI, Ngwa W, Makrigiorgos GM. Localized Dose Enhancement to Tumor Blood Vessel Endothelial Cells via Megavoltage X-rays and Targeted Gold Nanoparticles: New Potential for External Beam Radiotherapy. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2010. PubMed

Milbury CA, Li J, Makrigiorgos GM. Ice-COLD-PCR enables rapid amplification and robust enrichment for low-abundance unknown DNA mutations. Nucleic Acids Res 2010.

Li J, Wang L, Mamon H, Kulke MH, Berbeco R, Makrigiorgos GM. Replacing PCR with COLD-PCR enriches variant DNA sequences and redefines the sensitivity of genetic testing. Nat Med 2008; 14:579-84. PubMed

Amicarelli G, Shehi E, Makrigiorgos GM, Adlerstein D. FLAG assay as a novel method for real-time signal generation during PCR: application to detection and genotyping of KRAS codon 12 mutations. Nucleic Acids Res. 2007;35(19):e131.

Li J, Berbeco R, Distel RJ, Jänne PA, Wang L, Makrigiorgos GM. s-RT-MELT for rapid mutation scanning using enzymatic selection and real time DNA-melting: new potential for multiplex genetic analysis. Nucleic Acids Res. 2007;35(12):e84.

Li J, Makrigiorgos GM. Anti-primer quenching-based real-time PCR for simplex or multiplex DNA quantification and single-nucleotide polymorphism genotyping. Nat Protoc. 2007;2(1):50-8.

Wang G, Maher E, Brennan C, Chin L, Leo C, Kaur M, Zhu P, Rook M, Wolfe JL, Makrigiorgos GM. DNA amplification method tolerant to sample degradation. Genome Res. 2004 Nov;14(11):2357-66.

Wang G, Brennan C, Rook M, Wolfe JL, Leo C, Chin L, Pan H, Liu WH, Price B, Makrigiorgos GM. Balanced-PCR amplification allows unbiased identification of genomic copy changes in minute cell and tissue samples. Nucleic Acids Res. 2004 May;32(9):e76.

Liu WH, Kaur M, Wang G, Zhu P, Zhang Y, Makrigiorgos GM. Inverse PCR-based RFLP scanning identifies low-level mutation signatures in colon cells and tumors. Cancer Res. 2004 Apr 1;64(7):2544-51.

Kaur M, Makrigiorgos GM. Novel amplification of DNA in a hairpin structure: towards a radical elimination of PCR errors from amplified DNA. Nucleic Acids Res. 2003 Mar 15;31(6):e26.

Xue LY, Butler NJ, Makrigiorgos GM, Adelstein SJ, Kassis AI. Bystander effect produced by radiolabeled tumor cells in vivo. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Oct 15;99(21):13765-70.

Makrigiorgos GM, Chakrabarti S, Zhang Y, Kaur M, Price BD. A PCR-based amplification method retaining the quantitative difference between two complex genomes. Nat Biotechnol. 2002 Sep;20(9):936-9.

Chakrabarti S, Price BD, Tetradis S, Fox EA, Zhang Y, Maulik G, Makrigiorgos GM. Highly selective isolation of unknown mutations in diverse DNA fragments: toward new multiplex screening in cancer. Cancer Res. 2000 Jul 15;60(14):3732-7.

Maulik G, Botchway S, Chakrabarti S, Tetradis S, Price B, Makrigiorgos GM. Novel non-isotopic detection of MutY enzyme-recognized mismatches in DNA via ultrasensitive detection of aldehydes. Nucleic Acids Res. 1999 Mar 1;27(5):1316-22.

Maulik G, Kassis AI, Savvides P, Makrigiorgos GM. Fluoresceinated phosphoethanolamine for flow-cytometric measurement of lipid peroxidation. Free Radic Biol Med. 1998 Oct;25(6):645-53.

Makrigiorgos GM, Chakrabarti S, Mahmood A. Fluorescent labelling of abasic sites: a novel methodology to detect closely-spaced damage sites in DNA. Int J Radiat Biol. 1998 Jul;74(1):99-109.

Chakrabarti S, Kassis AI, Slayter HS, Bump EA, Sahu SK, Makrigiorgos GM. Continuous detection of radiation or metal generated hydroxyl radicals within core chromatin particles. Int J Radiat Biol. 1998 Jan;73(1):53-63.

Makrigiorgos GM, Kassis AI, Mahmood A, Bump EA, Savvides P. Novel fluorescein-based flow-cytometric method for detection of lipid peroxidation. Free Radic Biol Med. 1997;22(1-2):93-100.

Makrigiorgos GM, Bump E, Huang C, Baranowska-Kortylewicz J, Kassis AI. A fluorimetric method for the detection of copper-mediated hydroxyl free radicals in the immediate proximity of DNA. Free Radic Biol Med. 1995 Apr;18(4):669-78.

Collins AK, Makrigiorgos GM, Svensson GK. Coumarin chemical dosimeter for radiation therapy. Med Phys. 1994 Nov;21(11):1741-7.

Makrigiorgos GM, Baranowska-Kortylewicz J, Bump E, Sahu SK, Berman RM, Kassis AI. A method for detection of hydroxyl radicals in the vicinity of biomolecules using radiation-induced fluorescence of coumarin. Int J Radiat Biol. 1993 Apr;63(4):445-58.

Makrigiorgos GM, Berman RM, Baranowska-Kortylewicz J, Bump E, Humm JL, Adelstein SJ, Kassis AI. DNA damage produced in V79 cells by DNA-incorporated iodine-123: a comparison with iodine-125. Radiat Res. 1992 Mar;129(3):309-14.

Makrigiorgos GM, Ito S, Baranowska-Kortylewicz J, Vinter DW, Iqbal A, Van den Abbeele AD, Adelstein SJ, Kassis AI. Inhomogeneous deposition of radiopharmaceuticals at the cellular level: experimental evidence and dosimetric implications. J Nucl Med. 1990 Aug;31(8):1358-63.

Makrigiorgos GM, Adelstein SJ, Kassis AI. Cellular radiation dosimetry and its implications for estimation of radiation risks. Illustrative results with technetium 99m-labeled microspheres and macroaggregates. JAMA. 1990 Aug 1;264(5):592-5.

Makrigiorgos G, Adelstein SJ, Kassis AI. Auger electron emitters: insights gained from in vitro experiments. Radiat Environ Biophys. 1990;29(2):75-91.

Makrigiorgos GM, Adelstein SJ, Kassis AI. Limitations of conventional internal dosimetry at the cellular level. J Nucl Med. 1989 Nov;30(11):1856-64.

Makrigiorgos GM. Derivation of radiation quality average parameters in neutron-gamma radiation fields with the high-pressure ionization chamber: theory and practice. Radiat Res. 1989 Jun;118(3):387-400.

Makrigiorgos GM, Kassis AI, Baranowska-Kortylewicz J, McElvany KD, Welch MJ, Sastry KS, Adelstein SJ. Radiotoxicity of 5-[123I]iodo-2'-deoxyuridine in V79 cells: a comparison with 5-[125I]iodo-2'-deoxyuridine. Radiat Res. 1989 Jun;118(3):532-44.

Makrigiorgos G, Antonadou D. Measurement of the restricted dose mean LET outside the primary beam of a 60Co radiotherapy unit. Radiat Res. 1987 Apr;110(1):142-8.

Makrigiorgos G, Waker AJ. The measurement of absorbed dose and dose-equivalent levels for in vivo neutron activation analysis. Phys Med Biol. 1985 Sep;30(9):909-19.

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