# Yardena Samuels

Source: https://onco.cc/people/yardena-samuels/  
OnCo record `yardena-samuels` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

She found that PIK3CA is one of the most frequently mutated genes in human cancer, then spent the next twenty years working out which of a melanoma's mutations the immune system can actually see.

## Summary

Yardena Samuels was first author, working in Bert Vogelstein and Victor Velculescu's group at Johns Hopkins before she moved to the National Cancer Institute and then to Weizmann, of the 2004 Science paper that found high-frequency mutations of PIK3CA in human cancers, the work behind the PI3K-alpha inhibitors alpelisib and inavolisib and behind the E542K, E545K and H1047R hotspots that OnCo records on the PIK3CA page. Her laboratory at the Weizmann Institute now works on melanoma genomics and on the immunopeptidome: which mutated and non-canonical peptides a tumour actually displays on its MHC molecules, how intratumour heterogeneity across genetic, transcriptional and immunopeptidomic layers limits immunotherapy, and how translational recoding creates antigens that were never in the genome. That work sits directly under the neoantigen vaccine and adoptive cell therapy programmes at Sheba and elsewhere in Israel.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-25
- Tags: scientist; genomics; immunology
- Role: Professor, Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science
- Specialisms: Melanoma genomics; Neoantigens and immunopeptidomics; Cancer gene discovery; Intratumour heterogeneity

## Sources

- Samuels laboratory, Weizmann Institute: https://www.weizmann.ac.il/molgen/Samuels/
- PubMed author search: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Samuels%20Y%5BAuthor%5D%20melanoma%20Weizmann

## Connected records

- cancers: [Melanoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/melanoma/)
- fronts: [Drug Discovery Platforms](https://onco.cc/fronts/drug-discovery/), [Immunotherapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/immunotherapy/)
- technologies: [Personalised neoantigen (mRNA) vaccines](https://onco.cc/technologies/neoantigen-mrna-vaccine/), [TIL therapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/til-therapy/)
- targets: [PIK3CA / PI3K-alpha](https://onco.cc/targets/pik3ca/)
- institutions: [Weizmann Institute of Science](https://onco.cc/institutions/weizmann/)
- terms: [Neoantigen](https://onco.cc/terms/neoantigen/)

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