Michel Sadelain is a genetic engineer and cell therapist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York, where he holds the Steve and Barbara Friedman Chair. He is the founding director of the Center for Cell Engineering and a pioneer in T cell engineering and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy.
In 2024, Dr. Sadelain was awarded the prestigious Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for his development of CAR T cell immunotherapy, which modifies a patient’s T cells to target and kill cancer cells. He has also received the Coley Award, NYPLA Inventor of the Year award, and INSERM International Prize, among others.
Born in Paris, France, Sadelain earned his MD from the University of Paris and his PhD in immunology from the University of Alberta. He trained at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, MIT. Joining MSKCC in 1994, he established key programs in hematopoietic stem cell and T cell engineering.
Sadelain's research led to the development of second-generation CARs and the identification of CD19 as a target for CAR therapy. His team achieved significant clinical successes, leading to FDA approval of CD19-targeting CAR therapies in 2017. He co-founded Juno Therapeutics and holds numerous patents in immunotherapy. Sadelain has also served as President of the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy.

Seminar Topic: Antigen sensitivity, logic gating and persistence of CAR T cells