Bissan Al-Lazikani, PhD, FRSB, FISCB, MBCS
Department of Genomic Medicine, Division of Cancer Medicine
About Dr. Bissan Al-Lazikani
About Dr. Al-Lazikani
Dr. Al-Lazikani is a data scientist and drug discoverer. She applies data science and machine learning to address key challenges in cancer drug discovery and development. Dr. Al-Lazikani has drug discovery experience in both academia and the biotechnology industry. Through this experience, she encountered the myriad of hurdles faced through drug discovery and development pipelines. Dr Al-Lazikani’s research focuses on bringing the power of Data and Artificial Intelligence to address these hurdles, accelerating drug discovery and de-risking innovation. Specifically, she applies data science approaches to integrate multi-disciplinary and multi-modal data to inform all aspects of cancer translational research; and to develop novel machine learning algorithms that learn from these integrated data. Together, her approaches inform decision-making and experimental design throughout the drug discovery and development pipeline. She led the development of the world’s largest public cancer drug discovery platform (canSAR.ai) to inform target selection and prioritization for drug discovery. She now leads the Therapeutics Data Science Initiative at MD Anderson Cancer Center to maximally exploit data to discovery novel drugs and individualize drugs and drug combinations for patients.
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Co-Lead, Department of Institute for Data Science in Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Director of Therapeutics Data Science, Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Professor, Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 1999 | MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Newnham College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, GB, Ph.D. in Structural Computational Biology |
| 1995 | Imperial College, London, GB, M.Sc. in Computer Science |
| 1994 | University College, London, GB, B.Sc. in Molecular Biology |
Experience & Service
Academic Appointments
Professor, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, 2018 - 2021
Associate Professor, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, 2015 - 2018
Assistant Professor, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, 2009 - 2015
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Chair of Cancer and Drug Discovery Data Science, The Institute of Cancer Research, 2018 - 2021
Head of Data Science, The Institute of Cancer Research, 2016 - 2021
Honors & Awards
| Medical Research Council PhD Scholarship | |
| Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Fellowship | |
| Institute of Cancer Research Career Development Faculty Establishment Funds | |
| AACR Team Science Award, American Association for Cancer Research | |
| Victoria and Vinny Smith – Prostate Cancer Foundation Challenge Award | |
| Chartered Member of the British Computing Society, British Computing Society | |
| University of London Leading Women Award | |
| Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas Scholar | |
| John Black Charitable Foundation-Prostate Cancer Foundation Challenge Award | |
| Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, Royal Society of Biology | |
| Elected Fellow of International Society for Computational Biology, International Society for Computational Biology |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Phillip W Gingrich, Rezvan Chitsazi, Ansuman Biswas, Chunjie Jiang, Li Zhao, Joseph E Tym, Kevin M Brammer, Jun Li, Zhigang Shu, David S Maxwell, Jeffrey A Tacy, Ioan L Mica, Michael Darkoh, Patrizio di Micco, Kaitlyn P Russell, Paul Workman, Al-Lazikani B. canSAR 2024—an update to the public drug discovery knowledgebase. Nucleic Acids Research 53(D1):D1287-D1294, 2025. PMID: None.
- James ND, Tannock I, N'Dow J, Feng F, Gillessen S, Ali SA, Trujillo B, Al-Lazikani B, Attard G, Bray F, Compérat E, Eeles R, Fatiregun O, Grist E, Halabi S, Á H, Herchenhorn D, Hofman M, Jalloh M, Loeb S, MacNair A, Mahal B, Mendes L, Moghul M, Moore C, Morgans A, Morris M, Murphy D, Murthy V, Nguyen PL, Padhani A, Parker C, Rush H, Sculpher M, Soule H, Sydes MR, Tilki D, Tunariu N, Villanti P, Xie LP. The Lancet Commission on prostate cancer: planning for the surge in cases. Lancet 403(10437):1683-1722, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38583453.
- Gilbertson RJ, Behjati S, Böttcher AL, Bronner ME, Burridge M, Clausing H, Clifford H, Danaher T, Donovan LK, Drost J, Eggermont AMM, Emerson C, Flores MG, Hamerlik P, Jabado N, Jones A, Kaessmann H, Kleinman CL, Kool M, Kutscher LM, Lindberg G, Linnane E, Marioni JC, Maris JM, Monje M, Macaskill A, Niederer S, Northcott PA, Peeters E, Plieger-van Solkema W, Preußner L, Rios AC, Rippe K, Sandford P, Sgourakis NG, Shlien A, Smith P, Straathof K, Sullivan PJ, Suvà ML, Taylor MD, Thompson E, Vento-Tormo R, Wainwright BJ, Wechsler-Reya RJ, Westermann F, Winslade S, Al-Lazikani B, Pfister SM. The Virtual Child. Cancer Discov 14(4):663-668, 2024. PMID: 38571421.
- Antolin AA, Sanfelice D, Crisp A, Villasclaras Fernandez E, Mica IL, Chen Y, Collins I, Edwards A, Müller S, Al-Lazikani B, Workman P. The Chemical Probes Portal: an expert review-based public resource to empower chemical probe assessment, selection and use. Nucleic Acids Res 51(D1):D1492-D1502, 2023. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36268860.
- Antolin AA, Clarke PA, Collins I, Workman P, Al-Lazikani B. Evolution of kinase polypharmacology across HSP90 drug discovery. Cell Chem Biol 28(10):1433-1445.e3, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34077750.
- Antolin AA, Ameratunga M, Banerji U, Clarke PA, Workman P, Al-Lazikani B. The kinase polypharmacology landscape of clinical PARP inhibitors. Sci Rep 10(1):2585, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32066817.
- Workman P, Antolin AA, Al-Lazikani B. Transforming cancer drug discovery with Big Data and AI. Expert Opin Drug Discov 14(11):1089-1095, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31284790.
- Wedge DC, Gundem G, Mitchell T, Woodcock DJ, Martincorena I, Ghori M, Zamora J, Butler A, Whitaker H, Kote-Jarai Z, Alexandrov LB, Van Loo P, Massie CE, Dentro S, Warren AY, Verrill C, Berney DM, Dennis N, Merson S, Hawkins S, Howat W, Lu YJ, Lambert A, Kay J, Kremeyer B, Karaszi K, Luxton H, Camacho N, Marsden L, Edwards S, Matthews L, Bo V, Leongamornlert D, McLaren S, Ng A, Yu Y, Zhang H, Dadaev T, Thomas S, Easton DF, Ahmed M, Bancroft E, Fisher C, Livni N, Nicol D, Tavaré S, Gill P, Greenman C, Khoo V, Van As N, Kumar P, Ogden C, Cahill D, Thompson A, Mayer E, Rowe E, Dudderidge T, Gnanapragasam V, Shah NC, Raine K, Jones D, Menzies A, Stebbings L, Teague J, Hazell S, Corbishley C, Group CS, de Bono J, Attard G, Isaacs W, Visakorpi T, Fraser M, Boutros PC, Bristow RG, Workman P, Sander C, Consortium T, Hamdy FC, Futreal A, McDermott U, Al-Lazikani B, Lynch AG, Bova GS, Foster CS, Brewer DS, Neal DE, Cooper CS, Eeles RA. Sequencing of prostate cancers identifies new cancer genes, routes of progression and drug targets. Nat Genet 50(5):682-692, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29662167.
- Antolin AA, Tym JE, Komianou A, Collins I, Workman P, Al-Lazikani B. Objective, Quantitative, Data-Driven Assessment of Chemical Probes. Cell Chem Biol 25(2):194-205.e5, 2018. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29249694.
- Santos R, Ursu O, Gaulton A, Bento AP, Donadi RS, Bologa CG, Karlsson A, Al-Lazikani B, Hersey A, Oprea TI, Overington JP. A comprehensive map of molecular drug targets. ANALYSIS Nat Rev Drug Discov 16(1):19-34, 2017. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27910877.
- Workman P, Al-Lazikani B. Drugging cancer genomes. Nat Rev Drug Discov 12(12):889-90, 2013. PMID: 24287764.
- Gaulton A, Bellis LJ, Bento AP, Chambers J, Davies M, Hersey A, Light Y, McGlinchey S, Michalovich D, Al-Lazikani B, Overington JP. ChEMBL: a large-scale bioactivity database for drug discovery. Nucleic Acids Res 40(Database issue):D1100-7, 2012. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21948594.
- Overington JP, Al-Lazikani B, Hopkins AL. How many drug targets are there?. Nat Rev Drug Discov 5(12):993-6, 2006. PMID: 17139284.
Other Articles
- Elizabeth A Coker, Adam Stewart, Bugra Ozer, Anna Minchom, Lisa Pickard, Ruth Ruddle, Suzanne Carreira, Sanjay Popat, Mary O'Brien, Florence Raynaud, Johann de Bono, Bissan Al-Lazikani, Udai Banerji Individualized Prediction of Drug Response and Rational Combination Therapy in NSCLC Using Artificial Intelligence–Enabled Studies of Acute Phosphoproteomic Changes. AACR 21(6):1020-1029, 2022. PMID: None.
Selected Presentations & Talks
Local Presentations
- 2023. The Biology & Characteristics of Radiogeniomics in Personalized Medicine. Conference. American Association of Physicists in Medicine - Annual Meeting. Houston, Texas, US.
- 2023. Al for Drug Discovery & Repurposing. Conference. Al for Drug Discovery & Repurposing. Houston, TX, US.
- 2022. The Patient is the Focus: Breakthroughs from Bench to Bedside, Clinical and Multiomics Integration and High Value Cancer Care. Conference. The Patient is the Focus: Breakthroughs from Bench to Bedside, Clinical and Multiomics Integration and High Value Cancer Care. Houston, TX, US.
- 2022. AI for therapeutics, where we are and where we are going. Conference. AI for therapeutics, where we are and where we are going. Houston, TX, US.
Regional Presentations
- 2023. Putting data and AI to use in cancer drug discovery and development. Conference. Putting data and AI to use in cancer drug discovery and development. Midland, TX, US.
National Presentations
- 2024. Artificial Intelligence – Promises vs. reality for early detection. Invited. 2024 Early Detection of Cancer Conference. San Francisco, CA, US.
- 2024. Digital Twins for Drug Development to Individualized Therapy. Invited. 31st Annual Prostate Cancer Foundation Scientific Retreat. Carlsbad, CA, US.
- 2024. Integrative AI for novel therapeutic discovery. Invited. Medulloblastoma in the Mountains Conference 2024. Denver, Colorado, US.
- 2023. Data-led drug discovery and personalized therapy in the age of AI. Conference. The Tumor Landscape: Translating Mechanism to Therapy. New York City, New York, US.
- 2023. Uncovering hidden therapeutic opportunities for cancer with AI. Conference. EMBL-EBI Workshop on Precision Medicine and AI. Cambridge, MA, US.
- 2023. Adaptive, AI-Augmented Drug Discovery and Development. Conference. Adaptive, AI-Augmented Drug Discovery and Development. San Diego, CA, US.
- 2023. AACR Annual Meeting. Conference. AACR Annual Meeting. Orlando, FL, US.
- 2022. AI in clinical decisions, integrating molecular multi-omics. Invited. Practical Big Data Workshop 2022. Ann Arbor, MI, US.
- 2022. AACR Annual Meeting. Conference. AACR Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA, US.
- 2022. ACS Annual Barry Honig 80th Birthday Symposium. Conference. ACS Annual Barry Honig 80th Birthday Symposium. San Diego, CA, US.
- 2020. AACR Annual Meeting. Conference. AACR Annual Meeting, US.
- 2019. Gordon Research Bioorganic Chemistry Conference. Conference. Gordon Research Bioorganic Chemistry Conference. Andover, MA, US.
- 2019. AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, Chair. Conference. AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, Chair. Boston, MA, US.
- 2018. Harvard Program in Therapeutic Science. Invited. Harvard Program in Therapeutic Science. Boston, MA, US.
- 2017. The Inaugural Practical Big Data Workshop. Conference. University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, MI, US.
- 2016. Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology. Conference. International Society for Computational Biology. Orlando, FL, US.
- 2016. Gordon Research Conference on Human Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms & Disease. Conference. Gordon Research Conference on Human Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms & Disease. South Hadley, MA, US.
- 2015. Major Symposium on Computational Approach to Cancer Target and Drug Discovery, Chair. Conference. Major Symposium on Computational Approached to Cancer Target and Drug Discovery, Chair. Philadelphia, PA, US.
- 2014. Prostate Cancer Foundation Annual Retreat. Conference. Prostate Cancer Foundation Annual Retreat. San Diego, CA, US.
- 2014. Beyond The Genome: Cancer Genomics. Conference. Beyond The Genome: Cancer Genomics. Boston, MA, US.
- 2014. Targeted Anticancer Therapeutics. Conference. Targeted Anticancer Therapeutics. Washington, DC, US.
- 2011. Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics. Conference. Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics. San Francisco, CA, US.
International Presentations
- 2024. Precision Medicine in the Era of Big Data. Invited. Cancer Research UK Data-Driven Cancer Research Conference, GB.
- 2023. Al for uncovering hidden opportunities in cancer therapy. Invited. First Annual CRO-MDA Symposium on Cancer Biology and Precision. Aviano, IT.
- 2020. ESMO Targeted Anticancer Therapies (TAT2020). Invited. ESMO Targeted Anticancer Therapies (TAT2020). Paris, FR.
- 2019. 40 years Cancer Center Freiburg Symposium. Invited. 40 years Cancer Center Freiburg Symposium. Freiberg, DE.
- 2019. ESMO Congress. Invited. ESMO Congress. Barcelona, ES.
- 2019. International Society for Computational Biology/Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (TransMed COSI). Invited. International Society for Computational Biology/Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (TransMed COSI). Basel, CH.
- 2018. NCRI Annual Conference. Invited. NCRI Annual Conference,. Liverpool, GB.
- 2018. The Festival of Genomics. Invited. The Festival of Genomics. London, GB.
- 2018. 2nd CRUK Accelerating Cancer Drug Discovery through structural biology – Open Meeting. Invited. 2nd CRUK Accelerating Cancer Drug Discovery through structural biology – Open Meeting. Newcastle, GB.
- 2018. Biodynamics. Invited. Biodynamics. London, GB.
- 2017. Annual World Precision Medicine Congress. Invited. Annual World Precision Medicine Congress, GB.
- 2017. The Festival of Genomics. Invited. The Festival of Genomics, GB.
- 2017. The Tomorrow Talks. Invited. The Tomorrow Talks, GB.
- 2017. International Society for Computational Biology/Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology. Invited. International Society for Computational Biology/Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology, CZ.
- 2017. Wellcome Trust Translational Bioinformatics Workshop. Invited. Wellcome Trust Translational Bioinformatics Workshop, GB.
- 2017. Wellcome Trust Target Tractability Workshop. Invited. Wellcome Trust Target Tractability Workshop, GB.
- 2017. Expedia Invited Expert Seminar Series. Invited. Expedia Invited Expert Seminar Series, GB.
- 2016. International Society for Computational Biology/Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology. Invited. International Society for Computational Biology/Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology. Orlando, US.
- 2016. Ada Lovelace Day – Finding Ada Conference. Invited. Ada Lovelace Day – Finding Ada Conference, GB.
- 2016. CNIO – La Caixa Foundation Frontiers Meeting Canceromatics III – Tumor Heterogeneity. Invited. CNIO – La Caixa Foundation Frontiers Meeting Canceromatics III – Tumor Heterogeneity, ES.
- 2016. International Conference on the use of Computers in Radiation Therapy. Invited. International Conference on the use of Computers in Radiation Therapy, GB.
- 2014. European Molecular Biology Organization Chemical Biology. Invited. European Molecular Biology Organization Chemical Biology, DE.
- 2014. Joint Crick-KCL workshop on Modelling and Computation in Biology and Medicine. Invited. Joint Crick-KCL workshop on Modelling and Computation in Biology and Medicine, GB.
- 2014. Practicalities of Cellular Analysis, Omics and Informatics Conference. Invited. Practicalities of Cellular Analysis, Omics and Informatics Conference, GB.
- 2014. International Society for Computational Biology. Invited. International Society for Computational Biology, BR.
- 2013. British Pharmacological Society Target Validation Workshop. Conference. Royal Society of Chemistry, GB.
- 2013. Cancer Pharmacogenomics and Targeted Therapies, Wellcome Trust. Invited. Cancer Pharmacogenomics and Targeted Therapies, Wellcome Trust, GB.
- 2013. Cancer Pharmacogenomics and Targeted Therapies. Invited. Cancer Pharmacogenomics and Targeted Therapies, GB.
- 2012. Genes and Cancer. Invited. Genes and Cancer, GB.
- 2012. analytica 2012: 23rd International Trade Fair for Laboratory Technology, Analysis, Biotechnology and analytica. Invited. analytica 2012: 23rd International Trade Fair for Laboratory Technology, Analysis, Biotechnology and analytica Conference, DE.
- 2011. Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics. Invited. AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference. San Francisco, US.
Formal Peers
- 2024. Unpacking Digital Twins in Oncology - Challenges and Perspectives. Houston, Texas, US.
- 2023. Spring Cancer Research Seminar Series. Invited. Spring Cancer Research Seminar Series, TX, US.
- 2022. 3rd Annual Research Retreat of the Joint Center for Computational Oncology. Invited. 3rd Annual Research Retreat of the Joint Center for Computational Oncology. Austin, TX, US.
- 2022. Drug Discovery. Invited. Drug Discovery. Galveston, TX, US.
Grant & Contract Support
| Title: | Accelerating Drug Discovery and Development |
| Funding Source: | The Commonwealth Foundation for Cancer Research and MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| Role: | PI |
| Title: | Established Investigators Recruitment Dr. Bissan Al-Lazkani |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | PI |
| Title: | The Chemical Probes Portal: An Open Resource Empowering High Quality Chemical Biology |
| Funding Source: | Wellcome Trust Biomedical Resources Grant |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| Title: | Establishment of the canSAR Platform at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| Funding Source: | Lyda Hill Philanthropies |
| Role: | PI |
| Title: | Prostate Cancer Patient Profiling for Drug Repositioning and Discovery |
| Funding Source: | Philanthropic award to Rosalind Eels and Bissan Al-Lazikani |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| Title: | Cancer Research UK Stratified Medicine Paediatrics – SMPaeds |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Research United Kingdom |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| Title: | Biomedical Research Centre Award to the Royal Marsden and ICR |
| Funding Source: | National Institute of Health Research |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| Title: | National Institute for Health Research The Knowledge Hub (C84) |
| Funding Source: | Biomedical Research Centre |
| Role: | PI |
| Title: | Drug Discovery core grant to the ICR’s CRUK Cancer Therapeutic Unit |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Research United Kingdom |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| Title: | CRUK Centre Award to the ICR and Royal Marsden |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Research United Kingdom |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| Title: | BBSRC ‘FunPDBe’ functional annotation of protein structures |
| Funding Source: | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| Title: | Drug Discovery Committee Strategic Award |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Research United Kingdom |
| Role: | PI |
| Title: | PhD studentship: Integrative genomics to improve castration resistant prostate cancer treatment |
| Funding Source: | Prostate Cancer UK |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| Title: | CRUK Drug Discovery core grant to the ICR’s CRUK Cancer Therapeutic Unit |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Research United Kingdom |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| Title: | Wellcome Trust Chemogenomic Strategic Award |
| Funding Source: | Wellcome Trust |
| Role: | Co-PI |
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified January 28, 2025