Charles Roberts

Charles Roberts is a leading pediatric cancer biologist who has made landmark discoveries about SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex mutations in pediatric cancers. He identified SMARCB1/INI1 loss as the defining molecular event in malignant rhabdoid tumors and demonstrated that EZH2 inhibitors could reverse the tumor phenotype. His work established the concept of synthetic lethality between SWI/SNF loss and EZH2, leading to tazemetostat clinical development. He directs a major pediatric cancer research program bridging basic science and clinical translation.