Arul M. Chinnaiyan is the S.P. Hicks Endowed Professor of Pathology, a Professor of Urology, and the Director of the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology at the University of Michigan Medical School.Arul M. Chinnaiyan – University of Michigan Medical School He is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and an American Cancer Society Research Professor.Arul M. Chinnaiyan – HHMI
Arul Chinnaiyan received both PhD and MD degrees at the University of Michigan Medical School in 1999. He is a cancer researcher and the recipient of the 28th annual American Association for Cancer Research Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research at the annual meeting of the AACR in April 2008 in San Diego. List of AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research Winners He was also the leader of a group of scientists who received the inaugural 2007 American Association for Cancer Research "Team Science" Award for their discovery of gene fusions in prostate cancer.AACR Team Science Award Recipients , American Association for Cancer Research Award citation:"In recognition of their landmark discovery of recurrent gene fusions in a majority of prostate cancers, which has profound clinical and biological implications for understanding prostate cancers, and their embodiment of team science through interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration."
Arul Chinnaiyan received a number of other awards and prizes, including the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research and the Ramzi Cotran Young Investigator Award from the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation,2 UMHS researchers selected as Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators. University of Michigan Health System Press Release. 12 October 2007 the Association of American Physicians, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Sciences.Arul M. Chinnaiyan – National Academy of Sciences. National Academy of Sciences He received the 2022 Sjöberg PrizeDiscovery about a cause of prostate cancer rewarded with the Sjöberg Prize. Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 14 February 2022 and was jointly awarded the Harrington Prize for Innovation in MedicineInternational Harrington Prize Jointly Awarded to Drs. Arul Chinnaiyan and Charles Sawyers. Harrington Discovery Institute. 24 March 2026 alongside Charles L. Sawyers.
He is a member of the editorial boards for Oncogene and Cancer Discovery, and serves on the advisory board of Cancer Cell, among other journals.
Research and discovery Arul Chinnaiyan's research focuses on the molecular profiling of cancer to identify novel diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets. In 2005, his group discovered recurrent TMPRSS2-ETS gene fusions in prostate cancer using a bioinformatic outlier-analysis method. This study was the first to establish gene fusions, previously believed to be confined to hematological malignancies, as oncogenic drivers in solid tumors. The TMPRSS2-ERG gene fusion has been incorporated into the 18-gene MyProstateScore 2.0 urine biomarker test for detection of clinically significant prostate cancer.
Chinnaiyan developed the MI-ONCOSEQ program at the University of Michigan in 2011, one of the first clinical sequencing programs. MI-ONCOSEQ employs DNA and RNA sequencing to identify actionable mutations in advanced cancer patients and combines this data with clinical information to tailor treatment strategies. The MI-ONCOSEQ program has also helped reveal key insights into cancer biology, including the mutational landscape of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), the CDK12-mutant subtype of mCRPC, distinct classes of FOXA1 alterations in mCRPC, activating ESR1 mutations in endocrine-resistant breast cancer, FGFR fusions in diverse solid tumors, cancer-related long non-coding RNAs, and circular RNAs.
Chinnaiyan's research has identified therapeutically targetable epigenetic regulators and cofactors of transcription factor-driven oncogenesis, with a focus on proteins involved in driving androgen receptor activity in prostate cancer. These include BET bromodomain proteins, the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex, p300/CBP histone acetyltransferases, and NSD2 methyltransferase.
His team has also defined the lipid kinase PIKfyve as a therapeutic target in multiple malignancies, including prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, and gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Publications Partial list:
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