Peter Westcott
Assistant Professor
Cancer Center Member
Ph.D., University of California San Francisco, 2015
[email protected] |
The mutational processes that drive cancer also expose it to the immune system. Therapies that invigorate anticancer immunity can be astonishingly effective, but only in a subset of patients. We are developing powerful new strategies to study how the immune system and cancer coevolve, with the goal of expanding the curative potential of immunotherapy to more patients.
Our group studies how the immune system shapes tumor evolution during initiation, malignant transformation, and metastasis鈥攖he major cause of cancer mortality. Cancer progresses through sequential genetic and epigenetic aberrations, following Darwinian principles of natural selection. During clonally selective sweeps鈥攑opulation explosions of the most 鈥渇it鈥 cancer cells鈥攖he molecular and cellular architecture of the tumor and its tissue niche are restructured. We aim to understand how immunosurveillance fails at these critical junctures using a multidisciplinary approach at the interface of cancer genomics and immunology. Central to our approach are next-generation mouse models that capture the mutational complexity and immune interactions of human cancer. We engineer into these models powerful genetic switches that allow us to control the precise timing of tumor selective events and immune perturbations in vivo. Combined with longitudinal tumor sampling, advanced imaging, single cell and spatial omics, and other emerging technologies, these models enable us to deconstruct the spatiotemporal dynamics of tumor-immune crosstalk.
- 2024 – Present: AACR Gertrude B. Elion Cancer Research Award
- 2023 – Present: NCI Transition Career Development Award (K22)
- 2023 – Present: V Foundation for Cancer Research V Scholar Grant
- 2015 – 2019: Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellowship
- 2018 – 2018: Peter Karches Mentorship Award
- 2013 – 2015: NCI Ruth L. Kirschtein National Research Service Award F31
- 2010 – 2013: National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
- 2010 – 2011: The Long Award for Excellence in Teaching, UCSF School of Pharmacy
Cancer: A disease of genes and … garbage?
November 18, 2025
Peter Westcott begins the latest installment in our Cocktails & Chromosomes series with an inspirational quote from Oscar the Grouch.
鈥業s cancer immunotherapy right for me?鈥
January 21, 2025
It鈥檚 a question that only you and your doctor can answer. Research from CSHL鈥檚 Peter Westcott may explain why it does or doesn鈥檛 work in some cases.
CSHL celebrates 50th anniversary of McClintock Laboratory
November 20, 2023
Fifty years ago, CSHL honored Barbara McClintock by dedicating a building in her name. Today, it is home to four innovative cancer labs.
In cancer immunotherapy, more isn鈥檛 necessarily better
September 14, 2023
CSHL Assistant Professor Peter Westcott may have discovered why immunotherapy often fails in certain colon cancer treatments.
Immunologist Peter Westcott joins CSHL faculty
September 12, 2022
The Westcott lab explores how the immune system shapes tumor evolution, with the goal of developing new cancer immunotherapies.
Selected Publications
14 Sep 2023 | Nature Genetics
Westcott, Peter; Muyas, Francesc; Hauck, Haley; Smith, Olivia; Sacks, Nathan; Ely, Zackery; Jaeger, Alex; Rideout, William; Zhang, Daniel; Bhutkar, Arjun; Beytagh, Mary; Canner, David; Jaramillo, Grissel; Bronson, Roderick; Naranjo, Santiago; Jin, Abbey; Patten, J; Cruz, Amanda; Shanahan, Sean-Luc; Cortes-Ciriano, Isidro; Jacks, Tyler;
Oct 2021 | Nature Cancer | 2(10):1071-1085
Westcott, Peter; Sacks, Nathan; Schenkel, Jason; Ely, Zackery; Smith, Olivia; Hauck, Haley; Jaeger, Alex; Zhang, Daniel; Backlund, Coralie; Beytagh, Mary; Patten, J; Elbashir, Ryan; Eng, George; Irvine, Darrell; Yilmaz, Omer; Jacks, Tyler;
2021 | bioRxiv
Westcott, Peter; Muyas, Francesc; Smith, Olivia; Hauck, Haley; Sacks, Nathan; Ely, Zackery; Jaeger, Alex; Rideout, William; Bhutkar, Arjun; Zhang, Daniel; Beytagh, Mary; Canner, David; Bronson, Roderick; Naranjo, Santiago; Jin, Abbey; Patten, J; Cruz, Amanda; Cortes-Ciriano, Isidro; Jacks, Tyler;
2020 | Research Square
Westcott, Peter; Sacks, Nathan; Schenkel, Jason; Smith, Olivia; Zhang, Daniel; Hauck, Haley; Backlund, Coralie; Beytagh, Mary; Patten, J; Eng, George; Irvine, Darrell; Yilmaz, Ömer; Jacks, Tyler;
22 Jan 2015 | Nature | 517(7535):489-492
Westcott, Peter; Halliwill, Kyle; To, Minh; Rashid, Mamunur; Rust, Alistair; Keane, Thomas; Delrosario, Reyno; Jen, Kuang-Yu; Gurley, Kay; Kemp, Christopher; Fredlund, Erik; Quigley, David; Adams, David; Balmain, Allan;
Feb 2013 | Chinese Journal of Cancer | 32(2):63-70
Westcott, Peter; To, Minh;
All Publications
13 May 2025 | Immunity | 58(5):1182-1184
Shui, L; Westcott, P;
12 May 2025 | Cancer Cell | 43(5):981-984
LaFave, Lindsay; Kartha, Vinay; Ma, Sai; Meli, Kevin; Del Priore, Isabella; Lareau, Caleb; Naranjo, Santiago; Westcott, Peter; Duarte, Fabiana; Sankar, Venkat; Chiang, Zachary; Brack, Alison; Law, Travis; Hauck, Haley; Okimoto, Annalisa; Regev, Aviv; Buenrostro, Jason; Jacks, Tyler;
10 Mar 2025 | bioRxiv
Wu, Bocheng; Chang, Heng; Singh, Prashant; Hostetler, Alexander; Xiang, Yichen; Guo, Shenghao; Wang, Fiona; Zhong, Julia; Leifer, Becky; Schiavoni, Richard; Jiang, Nan; Choudhary, Amit; Westcott, Peter; Koehler, Angela;
11 Oct 2024 | Nature Cancer
Romero, Rodrigo; Chu, Tinyi; González Robles, Tania; Smith, Perianne; Xie, Yubin; Kaur, Harmanpreet; Yoder, Sara; Zhao, Huiyong; Mao, Chenyi; Kang, Wenfei; Pulina, Maria; Lawrence, Kayla; Gopalan, Anuradha; Zaidi, Samir; Yoo, Kwangmin; Choi, Jungmin; Fan, Ning; Gerstner, Olivia; Karthaus, Wouter; DeStanchina, Elisa; Ruggles, Kelly; Westcott, Peter; Chaligné, Ronan; Pe'er, Dana; Sawyers, Charles;