Charles Ishak, PHD
Department of Epigenetics and Molecular Carcinogenesis, Division of Discovery Science
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Epigenetics and Molecular Carcinogenesis, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Assistant Professor, Joint Appointment to the Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2017 | University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, CA, Biochemistry, Ph.D |
| 2011 | University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, CA, Molecular Biology, Bachelor of Science |
Postgraduate Training
| 2017-2023 | Postdoctoral Fellow, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario |
Experience & Service
Intramural Institutional Committee Activities
Committee Member, MD Anderson Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) Gynecological Cancers (GC) Program Conference Planning Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2023 - 2024
Extramural Institutional Committee Activities
Co-Chair, EMC Department Seminar Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2025 - Present
Co-chair, GSBS Genetics and Epigenetics (G&E) Program Communications Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS), 2024 - Present
Steering Committee Member, GSBS Genetics and Epigenetics (G&E) Program Steering Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS), 2024 - Present
Honors & Awards
| 2024 | Rising STARs Award, University of Texas System |
| 2024 | TAMEST Protégé, Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science, and Technology (TAMEST) |
| 2023 | National Early Detection Research Award, Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance |
| 2022 | Travel Award, Canadian Epigenetics, Environment & Health Research Consortium Network |
| 2021 | Forbeck Scholar, William Guy Forbeck Research Foundation |
| 2020 | F1000Prime Award - Associate Faculty Member Travel Grant, F1000Prime |
| 2019 | CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship (top 5%), Canadian Institutes of Health Research |
| 2019 | Institute of Cancer Research, Canadian Institutes of Health Research |
| 2019 | Associate Faculty Member, Faculty Opinions (Formerly F1000Prime) |
| 2018 | METIOR Incubator Early Career Researcher, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer |
| 2018 | Travel Award, University Health Network |
| 2017 | Lawson Leadership Impact Award, Lawson Health Research Institute |
| 2017 | Princess Margaret Excellence Fellowship, Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation |
| 2017 | Lucille & Norton Wolf Publication Award: Epigenetics, Lawson Health Research Institute |
| 2016 | Scholarship for Commercialization and Entrepreneurship, WORLDiscoveries |
| 2016 | Editor's Choice, Mobile DNA |
| 2014 | Poster Award, Oncology Research & Education Day, Western University |
| 2013 | Strategic Training Program in Cancer Research and Technology Transfer, CIHR |
| 2012 | Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University |
Selected Presentations & Talks
Local Presentations
- 2026. Contributions of Viral Mimicry Towards Ovarian HGSC Initiation. Invited. Work in Progress Seminar Series. Houston, Texas, US.
- 2025. Targeting dsRNA Insensitivity to Intercept TP53 Mutated Cancers. Invited. Research Townhall. Houston, Texas, US.
- 2024. Retrotransposons and the Viral Mimicry Response during Ovarian HGSC initiation. Invited. Bast Lab Seminar Series. Houston, Texas, US.
- 2024. Retrotransposons and the Viral Mimicry Response during Ovarian HGSC initiation. Invited. Departmental Seminar Series. Houston, Texas, US.
- 2024. Retrotransposons and the Viral Mimicry Response during Ovarian HGSC initiation. Invited. Gynecologic Oncology Grand Rounds Seminar Series. Houston, Texas, US.
- 2024. Retrotransposons and the Viral Mimicry Response during Ovarian HGSC initiation. Invited. Cancer Center Support Grants (CCSG) Gynecologic Cancers Program Retreat. Houston, Texas, US.
- 2023. EREs and the Viral Mimicry Response in Early Ovarian Tumorigenesis. Invited. Seminar Series. Houston, Texas, US.
- 2023. EREs and the Viral Mimicry Response in Early Ovarian Tumorigenesis. Invited. Houston, Texas, US.
Regional Presentations
- 2025. Endogenous Retrotransposons and the Viral Mimicry Response in Early Ovarian Tumorigenesis. Invited. CCE Retrreat. Houston, TX, US.
- 2024. Retrotransposons and the Viral Mimicry Response during Ovarian HGSC initiation. Conference. TAMEST 2024 Annual Conference: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Auston, Texas, US.
- 2023. Endogenous Retrotransposons and the Viral Mimicry Response in Early Ovarian Tumorigenesis. Invited. Center for Epigenetics (CCE) Program Retreat. Round Top, Texas, US.
National Presentations
- 2026. Contributions of Viral Mimicry Towards Ovarian HGSC Initiation. Invited. Ovarian Cancer Midwest Focus Conference. Minneapolis, Minnesota, US.
- 2026. Contributions of dsRNA sensing Towards Ovarian HGSC Initiation. Invited. NCI SPORE: GYN CANCERS MONTHLY Call. Houston, TX, US.
- 2025. Determining how early ovarian tumors mitigate the immunostimulatory effects of transcribed repetitive elements. Poster. AACR Special Conference in Cancer Research Advances in Ovarian Cancer Research. Denver, CO, US.
- 2025. Targeting Chronic DNA Sensing to Intercept Ovarian Cancer. Invited. MDACC Ovarian SPORE External Advisory Board (EAB) Meeting. Houston, TX, US.
- 2025. Contributions of Viral Mimicry Towards Ovarian HGSC Initiation. Invited. Center for Epigenetics (CCE) Program Retreat. Houston, TX, US.
- 2024. Endogenous Retrotransposons and the Viral Mimicry Response in Early Tumorigenesis. Invited. Forbeck Scholar Retreat. Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, US.
- 2023. Retrotransposons and the Viral Mimicry Response during Ovarian HGSC initiation. Invited. The Repetitive Elements in Ovarian and Other Cancers Mini-Symposium. Boston, Massachusetts, US.
- 2022. EREs and the Viral Mimicry Response in Early Ovarian Tumorigenesis. Invited. Department Seminar Series. Philadelphia, PA, US.
- 2022. EREs and the Viral Mimicry Response in Early Ovarian Tumorigenesis. Invited. Forbeck Forum: Cancer and Genomic Dark Matter. Pacific Grove, CA, US.
- 2022. EREs and the Viral Mimicry Response in Early Ovarian Tumorigenesis. Poster. VAI Epigenetics Symposium: 20(2+) Years of the Histone Code. Grand Rapids, MI, US.
- 2022. EREs and the Viral Mimicry Response in Early Ovarian Tumorigenesis. Invited. Columbia University Social DNA Rising Stars Forum. New York City, NY, US.
- 2022. EREs and the Viral Mimicry Response in Early Ovarian Tumorigenesis. Invited. Forbeck Forum: Dynamic histone methylation and chromatin organization in tumor suppression. Smithville, TN, US.
- 2022. EREs and the Viral Mimicry Response in Early Ovarian Tumorigenesis. Invited. Forbeck Scholar Retreat. Lake Geneva, WI, US.
- 2018. Overcoming immune checkpoint blockade through multidisciplinary collaboration. Invited. SITC METIOR Incubator Summit. Philadelphia, PA, US.
International Presentations
- 2026. Contributions of Viral Mimicry Towards Ovarian HGSC Initiation. Invited. Emerging Leaders in Cancer Research. Cambridge, GB.
- 2025. Contributions of Viral Mimicry Towards Ovarian HGSC Initiation. Invited. Ovarian Cancer Research Syndicate Webinar. Houston, US.
- 2024. Retrotransposons and the Viral Mimicry Response during Ovarian HGSC initiation. Invited. HHMT 15th International Forum on Ovarian Cancer. Dorking, GB.
- 2023. Viral Mimicry Tolerance in Early Ovarian Tumorigenesis. Poster. Gordon Research Conference on Genetics and Epigenetics. Barga, IT.
- 2022. EREs and the Viral Mimicry Response in Early Ovarian Tumorigenesis. Invited. Tumor Immunology & Microenvironment Seminar Series. Toronto, CA.
- 2022. EREs and the Viral Mimicry Response in Early Ovarian Tumorigenesis. Invited. Ovarian Cancer Seminar. London, CA.
- 2021. Acquisition of viral mimicry tolerance in cancer. Invited. Tumor Immunology & Microenvironment Seminar Series. Toronto, CA.
- 2020. Contributions of p53 inactivation towards viral mimicry tolerance. Invited. Tumor Immunology & Microenvironment Seminar Series. Toronto, CA.
- 2020. Increasing immunogenicity in HGSOC using epigenetic therapy. Invited. OICR Translational Research Initiative Symposium. Toronto, CA.
- 2019. Acclimation to dsRNA signaling upon p53 loss promotes viral mimicry tolerance. Invited. Transposable elements at the crossroad of health and disease. Ballairs, BB.
- 2019. Acclimation to dsRNA signaling upon p53 loss promotes viral mimicry tolerance. Poster. Epigenetics and Human Disease (X5). Banff, CA.
- 2018. Acclimation to dsRNA signaling upon p53 loss promotes viral mimicry tolerance. Invited. Terry Fox Research Institute Ontario Node Symposium. Toronto, US.
- 2018. SITC METIOR Incubator Update. Invited. Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer METIOR Incubator Summit II. London, CA.
- 2018. Repetitive element activation in early tumorigenesis. Invited. Cancer Enlightenment Day Symposium. Toronto, CA.
- 2017. The repetitive preoccupations of tumor suppressors. Invited. London Regional Cancer Program Oncology Grand Rounds. London, CA.
- 2015. The E1A-sensitive pRB-E2F1 complex silences endogenous retrovirus. Invited. The DNA Tumor Virus Meeting. Triste, IT.
- 2014. Alternate pRB-E2F1 complexes silence repetitive elements. Poster. Department of Oncology Research and Education Day. London, CA.
- 2014. Alternate pRB-E2F1 complexes silence repetitive elements. Invited. The 2nd Canadian Conference on Epigenetics. London, CA.
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Shi, L, Dasovich, M, Horton, JR, Liu, H, Zhan, Q, Manickavinayaham, S, Jeter, CR, Mixon, IJ, Zehrbach, NM, Ishak, CA, Yoon, JH, Cheng, X, Leung, AK, Bedford, MT. Nuclear poly(A)-binding protein and nucleolin utilize their RNA recognition motifs to read PAR chains. Nucleic Acids Res 53(20), 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 41182901.
- Ishak, CA, Marhon, SA, Tchrakian, N, Hodgson, A, Yau, HL, Gonzaga, IM, Peralta, M, Lungu, IM, Gomez, S, Liang, SB, Shen, SY, Chen, R, Chen, J, Chatterjee, B, Wanniarachchi, KN, Lee, J, Zehrbach, NM, Hosseini, A, Mehdipour, P, Sun, S, Solovyov, A, Ettayebi, I, Francis, KE, He, A, Wu, T, Feng, S, da Silva Medina, T, de Almeida, FC, Bayani, J, Li, JS, Macdonald, S, Wang, Y, Garcia, SS, Arthofer, E, Diab, N, Srivastava, A, Austin, PT, Sabatini, PJ, Greenbaum, B, O’Brien, CA, Shepherd, T, Tsao, MS, Chiappinelli, KB, Oza, A, Clarke, BA, Rottapel, R, Lheureux, S, De Carvalho, DD. Chronic Viral Mimicry Induction following p53 Loss Promotes Immune Evasion. Cancer Discov 15(4):793-817, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 39776167.
- Lee, J, Chatterjee, B, Oh, N, Saha, D, Lu, Y, Bartholomew, B, Ishak, CA. Introductory Analysis and Validation of CUT&RUN Sequencing Data. Journal of Visualized Experiments 2024(214), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39760380.
- Feng, S, Marhon, SA, Sokolowski, DJ, D’Costa, A, Soares, F, Mehdipour, P, Ishak, CA, Loo Yau, H, Ettayebi, I, Patel, PS, Chen, R, Liu, J, Zuzarte, PC, Ho, KC, Ho, B, Ning, S, Huang, A, Arrowsmith, CH, Wilson, MD, Simpson, JT, De Carvalho, DD. Inhibiting EZH2 targets atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor by triggering viral mimicry via both RNA and DNA sensing pathways. Nature Commun 15(1):9321, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39472584.
- Zehrbach NM, Oh N, Ishak CA. Insights into LINE-1 reverse transcription guide therapy development. Trends Cancer 10(4):286-288, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38499453.
- Hosseini, A, Lindholm, HT, Chen, R, Mehdipour, P, Marhon, SA, Ishak, CA, Moore, PC, Classon, M, Di Gioacchino, A, Greenbaum, B, De Carvalho, DD. Retroelement decay by the exonuclease XRN1 is a viral mimicry dependency in cancer. Cell Reports 43(2), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38261511.
- Viner, C, Ishak, CA, Johnson, JD, Walker, NJ, Shi, H, Sjöberg-Herrera, MK, Shen, SY, Lardo, SM, Adams, D, Ferguson-Smith, A, De Carvalho, DD, Hainer, SJ, Bailey, TL, Hoffman, MM. Modeling methyl-sensitive transcription factor motifs with an expanded epigenetic alphabet. Genome Biol 25(1), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38191487.
- Loo Yau, H, Bell, E, Ettayebi, I, de Almeida, FC, Boukhaled, GM, Shen, SY, Allard, D, Morancho, B, Marhon, SA, Ishak, CA, Gonzaga, IM, da Silva Medina, T, Singhania, R, Chakravarthy, A, Chen, R, Mehdipour, P, Pommey, S, Klein, C, Amarante-Mendes, GP, Roulois, D, Arribas, J, Stagg, J, Brooks, DG, De Carvalho, DD. DNA hypomethylating agents increase activation and cytolytic activity of CD8+ T cells. Mol Cell 81(7):1469-1483.e8, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33609448.
- Ishak, CA, Loo Yau, H, De Carvalho, DD. Spliceosome-Targeted Therapies Induce dsRNA Responses. Immunity 54(1):11-13, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33440135.
- Mehdipour, P, Marhon, SA, Ettayebi, I, Chakravarthy, A, Hosseini, A, Wang, Y, Castro, FA, Loo Yau, H, Ishak, CA, Abelson, S, O’Brien, CA, De Carvalho, DD. Epigenetic therapy induces transcription of inverted SINEs and ADAR1 dependency. Nature 588(7836):169-173, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33087935.
- Kent, OA, Saha, M, Coyaud, E, Burston, HE, Law, N, Dadson, K, Chen, S, Laurent, EM, St-Germain, J, Sun, RX, Matsumoto, Y, Cowen, J, Montgomery-Song, A, Brown, KR, Ishak, CA, Rose, JL, De Carvalho, DD, He, HH, Raught, B, Billia, F, Kannu, P, Rottapel, R. Haploinsufficiency of RREB1 causes a Noonan-like RASopathy via epigenetic reprogramming of RAS-MAPK pathway genes. Nature Commun 11(1), 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32938917.
- Taylor, K, Loo Yau, H, Chakravarthy, A, Wang, B, Shen, SY, Ettayebi, I, Ishak, CA, Bedard, P, Razak, AR, R Hansen, A, Spreafico, A, Cescon, DW, Butler, M, Oza, A, Lheureux, S, Stjepanovic, N, Van As, B, Boross-Harmer, S, Wang, LI, Pugh, TJ, Ohashi, PS, Siu, LL, De Carvalho, DD. An open-label, phase II multicohort study of an oral hypomethylating agent CC-486 and durvalumab in advanced solid tumors. J Immunother Cancer 8(2), 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32753546.
- Marshall, AE, Ishak, CA, Dick, F. An Rb-condensin II complex mediates long-range chromosome interactions and influences expression at divergently paired genes. Mol Cell Biol 40(2):e00452-19, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 31685548.
- Ishak, CA, Lheureux, S, De Carvalho, DD. DNA methylation as a robust classifier of epithelial ovarian cancer. Clinical Cancer Research 25(19):5729-5731, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31337645.
- Ishak, CA, Coschi, CH, Roes, MV, Dick, F. Disruption of CDK-resistant chromatin association by pRB causes DNA damage, mitotic errors, and reduces Condensin II recruitment. Cell Cycle 16(15):1430-1439, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28723239.
- Ishak, CA, Marshall, AE, Passos, DT, White, CR, Kim, SJ, Cecchini, MJ, Ferwati, S, MacDonald, WA, Howlett, CJ, Welch, I, Rubin, SM, Mann, MR, Dick, F. An RB-EZH2 Complex Mediates Silencing of Repetitive DNA Sequences. Mol Cell 64(6):1074-1087, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27889452.
- Cecchini, MJ, Ishak, CA, Passos, DT, Warner, AJ, Palma, DA, Howlett, CJ, Driman, DK, Dick, F. Loss of the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor correlates with improved outcome in patients with lung adenocarcinoma treated with surgery and chemotherapy. Human Pathology 46(12):1922-1934, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26475095.
- Coschi, CH, Ishak, CA, Gallo, D, Marshall, AE, Talluri, S, Wang, J, Cecchini, MJ, Martens, AL, Percy, V, Welch, I, Boutros, PC, Brown, GW, Dick, F. Haploinsufficiency of an RB-E2F1-Condensin II Complex Leads to Aberrant Replication and Aneuploidy. Cancer Discov 4(7):840-853, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24740996.
- Forristal, C, Henley, SA, MacDonald, JI, Bush, JR, Ort, C, Passos, DT, Talluri, S, Ishak, CA, Thwaites, MJ, Norley, CJ, Litovchick, L, DeCaprio, JA, DiMattia, G, Holdsworth, DW, Beier, F, Dick, F. Loss of the mammalian DREAM complex deregulates chondrocyte proliferation. Mol Cell Biol 34(12):2221-2234, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24710275.
Review Articles
- Balkwill FR, Laumont CM, Burdett N, Le Saux O, Garsed DW, Grither WR, Nijhuis AM, Recouvreux MS, Kang Z, Zhang R, Chiappinelli KB, Lee JS, Laniti DD, McNeish I, Ahmed AA, Rottapel R, Conejo-Garcia JR, Odunsi K, Pharoah PDP, Zamarin D, Ishak CA, Fotopoulou C, Buckanovich RJ, Labidi-Galy I, Brenton JD, Lengyel E, Cook DP, George SHL, Lheureux S, Drapkin R, Nephew KP, Adams S, Pathania S, Nelson BH, Farkkila A, Fuh K, Neel BG, Bowtell DD. Rethinking ovarian cancer III: the past decade and future directions. Nat Rev Cancer 26(6):452-471, 2026. e-Pub 2026. PMID: 41975230.
- Chen, R, Ishak, CA, De Carvalho, DD. Endogenous retroelements and the viral mimicry response in cancer therapy and cellular homeostasis. Cancer Discov 11(11):2707-2725, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34649957.
- Ishak, CA, De Carvalho, DD. Reactivation of Endogenous Retroelements in Cancer Development and Therapy. Annu Rev Cancer Biol 4:159-176, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Ishak, CA, Classon, M, De Carvalho, DD. Deregulation of Retroelements as an Emerging Therapeutic Opportunity in Cancer. Trends in Cancer 4(8):583-597, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30064665.
Other Articles
- Mehdipour, P, Marhon, SA, Ettayebi, I, Chakravarthy, A, Hosseini, A, Wang, Y, Castro, FA, Yau, HL, Ishak, CA, Abelson, S, O’Brien, CA, De Carvalho, DD Publisher Correction: Epigenetic therapy induces transcription of inverted SINEs and ADAR1 dependency. Nature 591(7850):E20, 2021. PMID: 33654322.
- Ishak, CA, De Carvalho, DD DNA methylation profiling of premalignant lesions as a path to ovarian cancer early detection. Clin Cancer Res 26(23):6083-6085, 2020. PMID: 32988966.
- Ishak, CA, Dick, F Conditional haploinsufficiency of the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor gene. Mol Cell Oncol 2(1), 2015. PMID: 27308386.
Book Chapters
- Ishak, CA, Cecchini, MJ, Howlett, CJ, Dick, F. Immunohistochemical detection of the retinoblastoma protein, 65-75, 2018.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified September 01, 2026