Martin Steffen
Assistant Professor of Genetics and Genomics
M.D./Ph.D. Stanford University

Martin\'s lab works on developing the tools of systems biology for mammalian cells. Currently he is emphasizing the technique of mass spectrometry. Martin obtained his MD/PhD training at Stanford University and then did postdoctoral work in George Church\'s lab at Harvard. Using mass spec, one can currently identify a few thousand proteins in a single experiment, as well as many important post-translational modifications (PTMs). Martin\'s guiding biological focus is cancer biology, and his interests are both at the level of basic research and clinical application. He is in the process of characterizing proteomic differences (identities, amounts, PTMs, splice forms) between normal and diseased tissue. He will also examine serum samples from donors with and without cancer as part of an effort to identify proteins that behave as early indicators of tumor development. Martin is also jointly appointed in the Biomedical Engineering Department at the Charles River Campus.