Boris.Bastian@ucsf.edu
Bastian Lab Webpage
(415) 502-0267

Selected Awards & Honors

Lila and Murray Gruber Memorial Cancer Research Award, American Academy of Dermatology. 2017.

Research Achievement Award in Melanoma and Skin Cancer Research, American Skin Association. 2016.

Stein Innovation Award, Research to Prevent Blindness. 2015.

Lifetime Achievement Award, Society of Melanoma Research. 2014.

Scientific Leadership Award, Melanoma Research Foundation. 2012.

Helwig Award, American Society of Dermatopathology. 2012.

Elected to the German National Academy of Science. 2011.

Honorary Member, European Association of Dermatologic Oncology. 2010.

President, Society of Melanoma Research. 2010-2013.

Abby S. and Howard P Milstein Innovation Award for Skin Cancer Research, American Skin Association. 2008.

Hermann Pinkus Lectureship and Award, American Society of Dermatopathology. 2005.

Boris C. Bastian, MD

Professor of Pathology and Dermatology

Dr. Boris Bastian received his MD degree and Dr. Med degree from the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. After completing a residency in dermatology at the University of Wurzburg, he received additional training in dermatopathology and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco before joining the institution's faculty and starting his research laboratory at UCSF’s Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. In 2010 he moved to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to become Chairman of the Department of Pathology. He served as the President of the Society of Melanoma Research from 2010 to 2013. In 2011 he returned to UCSF where he holds the title of Gerson and Barbara Bakar Distinguished Professor of Cancer Biology. He founded and directs the Clinical Cancer Genomics Laboratory at UCSF, which performs molecular diagnostics for patients of the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. He has clinical responsibilities in the Dermatopathology Section of the Departments of Dermatology and Pathology, where he also oversees the molecular diagnostic laboratory.

Dr. Bastian’s research laboratory focuses on the molecular genetics of cutaneous neoplasms, with a particular emphasis on the discovery of genetic alterations useful for diagnosis, classification, and therapy. His laboratory has contributed to the discovery of multiple genetic alterations in melanocytic neoplasia that are relevant for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes and he has established a taxonomy of melanocytic neoplasia that integrates molecular and clinical disease aspects. He has received numerous awards for his work.

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Selected Publications

Wiesner T, Obenauf AC, Murali R, Fried I, Griewank KG, Ulz P, Windpassinger C, Wackernagel W, Loy S, Wolf I, Viale A, Lash AE, Pirun M, Socci ND, Rütten A, Palmedo G, Abramson D, Offit K, Ott A, Becker JC, Cerroni L, Kutzner H, Bastian BC*, Speicher MR*. Germline mutations in BAP1 predispose to melanocytic tumors. Nat Genet, August 2011, published online ahead of print. *equal contribution

Van Raamsdonk CD, Griewank KG, Crosby MB, Garrido MC, Vemula S, Wiesner T, Obenauf AC, Wackernagel, Werner, Green G, Bouvier N, Sozen MM, Baimukanova G, Roy R, Heguy A, Dogalev I, Khanin R, Busam K, Speicher MR, O'Brien JM, Bastian BC. Mutations in GNA11 in Uveal Melanoma. N Engl J Med 2010; Dec 2;363(23):2191-9. PMID 21083380.

Van Raamsdonk, CD, Bezrookove V, Green G, Bauer J, Gaugler L, O’Brien JM, Simpson EM, Barsh GE, Bastian BC. Frequent somatic mutations of GNAQ in uveal melanoma and blue nevi. Nature. 2009 Jan 29;457(7229):599-602. Epub 2008 Dec 10. PMCID PMC2696133.

Viros A, Fridlyand J, Bauer J, Lasithiotakis K, Garbe C, Pinkel D, Bastian BC, Improving Melanoma Classification by Integrating Genetic and Morphologic Features. PLOS Medicine. 2008;5(6):e120. PMCID PMC2408611.

Curtin, J. A., Busam, K., Pinkel, D., and Bastian BC.Somatic Activation of KIT in Distinct Subtypes of Melanoma. J Clin Oncol, 2006 Sep 10; 24(26):4340-6. Epub 2006 Aug 14. PMID 16908931.

Landi MT, Bauer J, Pfeiffer RM, Elder DE, Hulley B, Minghetti P, Calista D, Pinkel D, Kanetsky PA, Bastian BC. MC1R Germline Variants Confer Risk for BRAF-Mutant Melanoma. Science 2006;313(5786):512-2.

Curtin JA, Fridlyand J, Kageshita T, Patel H, Busam K, Kutzner H, Cho KH, Aiba S, Bröcker EB, LeBoit PE, Pinkel D, Bastian BC. Distinct Sets of Genetic Alterations in Melanoma. N Engl J Med. 2005 17;353(20):2135-47. PMID 16291983.