Melissa Taggart

Melissa Taggart is a Senior Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her research focuses on the tumor biology and immunology of colorectal and appendiceal cancers, with particular emphasis on Lynch syndrome, mismatch repair deficiency, and the spatial architecture of the tumor immune microenvironment. Her recent work has identified Lynch syndrome-specific immune signatures in T cell receptors and demonstrated that KRAS inhibition is an effective therapy for appendiceal adenocarcinoma. She has also developed orthotopic patient-derived xenograft models of peritoneal metastatic mucinous appendiceal adenocarcinoma. Her publications appear in venues including Nature Communications, Cancer Research, and JCI Insight.