Joshua Gruber, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Dr. Gruber is a faculty member in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, and the Green Center for Reproductive Sciences. He is a physician-scientist that specializes in laboratory and clinical research, as well as patient care, for patients with breast cancer and other malignancies.

Dr. Gruber is originally from San Diego, CA and received his undergraduate and MD/PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. He trained at Stanford University in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology. He completed postdoctoral research in the Department of Genetics and was an Instructor in the Department of Medicine, Medical Oncology division where he saw patients in the Stanford Cancer Center. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine (2015) and Medical Oncology (2017). He joined UT Southwestern in 2021.

Dr. Gruber is an expert at growth control pathways and chromatin biology in breast cancer and other malignancies. He is an accomplished clinical investigator in the fields of cancer genetics, metastatic breast cancer and triple-negative breast cancer. He came to UT Southwestern to continue his career as a physician-scientist to improve research and clinical care for cancer patients. Here he runs a research group dedicated to identifying new targets for the treatment of breast cancer and other malignancies. His laboratory develops chemical and genetic tools to decipher cell growth control pathways in the hopes that these will become precursors to new cancer drugs. He is a breast cancer physician at the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center where he specializes in treatment and clinical research for patents with metastatic breast cancer and triple-negative breast cancer, and studies new immunotherapies. Dr. Gruber’s interests outside of medicine include his family, outdoor activities including hiking, nature, golf, tennis, skateboarding, as well as reading and writing.

Medical School

University of Pennsylvania Hospital (2011)

Residency

Stanford University Medical Center (2013), Internal Medicine

Fellowship

Stanford University Hospital (2016), Medical Oncology

• Cancer biology
• Cancer drug discovery
• Cancer metabolism
• Chromatin synthesis and maintenance
• Epigenetic enzymes
• immunoreceptors including VISTA
• triple-negative breast cancer

Featured Publications

HAT1 Coordinates Histone Production and Acetylation via H4 Promoter Binding.

Gruber JJ, Geller B, Lipchik AM, Chen J, Salahudeen AA, Ram AN, Ford JM, Kuo CJ, Snyder MP, Mol Cell 2019 08 75 4 711-724.e5

Chromatin Remodeling in Response to BRCA2-Crisis.

Gruber JJ, Chen J, Geller B, Jäger N, Lipchik AM, Wang G, Kurian AW, Ford JM, Snyder MP, Cell Rep 2019 08 28 8 2182-2193.e6

Ars2 promotes proper replication-dependent histone mRNA 3' end formation.

Gruber JJ, Olejniczak SH, Yong J, La Rocca G, Dreyfuss G, Thompson CB, Mol Cell 2012 Jan 45 1 87-98

Hypoxia promotes isocitrate dehydrogenase-dependent carboxylation of a-ketoglutarate to citrate to support cell growth and viability.

Wise DR, Ward PS, Shay JE, Cross JR, Gruber JJ, Sachdeva UM, Platt JM, DeMatteo RG, Simon MC, Thompson CB, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2011 Dec 108 49 19611-6

Ars2 links the nuclear cap-binding complex to RNA interference and cell proliferation.

Gruber JJ, Zatechka DS, Sabin LR, Yong J, Lum JJ, Kong M, Zong WX, Zhang Z, Lau CK, Rawlings J, Cherry S, Ihle JN, Dreyfuss G, Thompson CB, Cell 2009 Jul 138 2 328-39

Association of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes with Homologous Recombination Deficiency and BRCA1/2 Status in Patients with Early Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: A Pooled Analysis.

Telli ML, Chu C, Badve SS, Vinayak S, Silver DP, Isakoff SJ, Kaklamani V, Gradishar W, Stearns V, Connolly RM, Ford JM, Gruber JJ, Adams S, Garber J, Tung N, Neff C, Bernhisel R, Timms KM, Richardson AL, Clin Cancer Res 2020 06 26 11 2704-2710

Acetate supplementation restores chromatin accessibility and promotes tumor cell differentiation under hypoxia.

Li Y, Gruber JJ, Litzenburger UM, Zhou Y, Miao YR, LaGory EL, Li AM, Hu Z, Yip M, Hart LS, Maris JM, Chang HY, Giaccia AJ, Ye J, Cell Death Dis 2020 02 11 2 102

Matrix stiffness induces a tumorigenic phenotype in mammary epithelium through changes in chromatin accessibility.

Stowers RS, Shcherbina A, Israeli J, Gruber JJ, Chang J, Nam S, Rabiee A, Teruel MN, Snyder MP, Kundaje A, Chaudhuri O, Nat Biomed Eng 2019 12 3 12 1009-1019

High-Resolution Bisulfite-Sequencing of Peripheral Blood DNA Methylation in Early-Onset and Familial Risk Breast Cancer Patients.

Chen J, Haanpää MK, Gruber JJ, Jäger N, Ford JM, Snyder MP, Clin Cancer Res 2019 09 25 17 5301-5314

Disruption of mesoderm formation during cardiac differentiation due to developmental exposure to 13-cis-retinoic acid.

Liu Q, Van Bortle K, Zhang Y, Zhao MT, Zhang JZ, Geller BS, Gruber JJ, Jiang C, Wu JC, Snyder MP, Sci Rep 2018 08 8 1 12960

• NIH/NCI Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award
  (2020)
• SPARK Translational Research Award
  Stanford University (2020)
• Women's Cancer Center Innovation Award
  Stanford Cancer Institute (2020)
• Innovation Award
  Stanford Cancer Institute (2017)
• Young Investigator Award
  Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO (2017)

• Member Graduate Faculty in Cancer Biology graduate program (2022)
• Member Graduate Faculty of Biological Chemistry graduate program (2021)
• American Association for Cancer Research (2017)
• American Society of Clinical Oncology (2016)