# Christopher R. Vakoc

Source: https://onco.cc/people/christopher-vakoc/  
OnCo record `christopher-vakoc` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Found that leukaemias depend on the chromatin reader BRD4, launching BET inhibitors, and mapped transcriptional addictions in sarcoma.

## Summary

Christopher R. Vakoc is Professor at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Cancer Center, where he studies transcriptional dependencies in cancer. He is known for finding through an RNA interference screen that acute myeloid leukaemia depends on the chromatin reader BRD4, work that launched BET inhibitors, and for developing CRISPR domain-scanning to find druggable protein domains. His selected paper reports the RNAi screen identifying Brd4 as a therapeutic target in AML. His laboratory now maps transcriptional addictions in Ewing sarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma using CRISPR functional genomics.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Role: Professor, CSHL Cancer Center
- Specialisms: Transcriptional dependencies; BET and chromatin regulators; CRISPR domain screens

## Sources

- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Vakoc%20CR%5BAuthor%5D

## Connected records

- cancers: [Acute myeloid leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/aml/), [Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST)](https://onco.cc/cancers/sarcoma/)
- technologies: [CRISPR functional genomics](https://onco.cc/technologies/crispr-screens/), [Epigenetic drugs (HDAC, DNMT, EZH2, IDH, menin, BET)](https://onco.cc/technologies/epigenetic-drugs/)
- institutions: [Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory](https://onco.cc/institutions/cold-spring-harbor/)
- roadmaps: [Epigenetic therapy roadmap: loosening silenced genes → mutation-specific enzymes → editing the epigenome](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/epigenetics-roadmap/)

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