Michael Angelo, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Stanford University

Research Description: Since starting his lab, Dr. Angelo has developed a new framework for spatial biology that has led to the discovery of previously unknown rule sets governing the spatial organization and cellular composition of immune and stromal cells within the tumor microenvironment in triple negative breast cancer and ductal carcinoma in situ (Cell 2018, Cell 2022). This effort has led to ongoing work aimed to define broader structural mechanisms that promote tolerogenic niches in cancer, tuberculosis, and the maternal fetal interface (Nature Immunology 2022, Nature 2023). Dr. Angelo is the recipient of the 2020 DOD Era of Hope Award and am principal investigator on multiple extramural awards from the National Cancer Institute, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and am co-director of the steering committee for the Human Biomolecular Atlas (HuBMAP) initiative. An overarching theme across his lab’s research is how metabolic alterations perturb tissue homeostasis and bias immune responses to tolerogenic states. This interest is well-aligned with the goals of NORC to understand how obesity serves as a chronic driver of these altered states. Dr. Angelo collaborates extensively with many members of the NORC.