World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
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Best Female Scientists
2025

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Best Female Scientists

D-Index
119
Citations
92879
World Ranking
568
National Ranking
339

Medicine

D-Index
122
Citations
96601
World Ranking
3393
National Ranking
1866

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2025 - Research.com Best Female Scientists Award
  • 2019 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Overview

Kornelia Polyak is affiliated with Harvard University in the United States and has a significant body of research work primarily in the fields of Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, and Medicine. Their publications extensively cover subfields such as Molecular Biology, Oncology, Cancer Research, Immunology, and Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine.

The main topics explored in their research include:

  • Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics
  • Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
  • Cancer Cells and Metastasis
  • Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
  • HER2/EGFR in Cancer Research
  • Breast Cancer Treatment Studies
  • Epigenetics and DNA Methylation

Recent notable papers authored by Kornelia Polyak and colleagues include:

  • "Intratumor Heterogeneity: The Rosetta Stone of Therapy Resistance" (2020), published in Cancer Cell
  • "Impact of HER2 Heterogeneity on Treatment Response of Early-Stage HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Phase II Neoadjuvant Clinical Trial of T-DM1 Combined with Pertuzumab" (2021), published in Cancer Discovery
  • "Synthetic Lethal and Resistance Interactions with BET Bromodomain Inhibitors in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer" (2020), published in Molecular Cell
  • "Immune Escape during Breast Tumor Progression" (2020), published in Cancer Immunology Research
  • "Increased lysosomal biomass is responsible for the resistance of triple-negative breast cancers to CDK4/6 inhibition" (2020), published in Science Advances

Their frequent co-authors include Zheqi Li, Henry W. Long, Franziska Michor, Marco Seehawer, and Tari A. King, with the number of collaborations ranging from 9 to 15 publications per co-author.

Kornelia Polyak frequently publishes in several high-impact venues such as:

  • Cancer Research
  • Cancer Cell
  • Nature Communications
  • Nature Cell Biology
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

In recognition of their contributions to science, Kornelia Polyak was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2019.

Best Publications

  • The Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Generates Cells with Properties of Stem Cells

    Sendurai A. Mani;Wenjun Guo;Mai Jing Liao;Elinor Ng Eaton

  • Transitions between epithelial and mesenchymal states: acquisition of malignant and stem cell traits

    Kornelia Polyak;Robert A. Weinberg

  • Mesenchymal stem cells within tumour stroma promote breast cancer metastasis

    Antoine E. Karnoub;Ajeeta B. Dash;Annie P. Vo;Andrew Sullivan

  • Genomic landscapes of human breast and colorectal cancers

    Laura D. Wood;Williams D. Parsons;Sian Jones;Jimmy Lin

  • A model for p53-induced apoptosis

    Kornelia Polyak;Kornelia Polyak;Yong Xia;Jay L. Zweier;Kenneth W. Kinzler

  • Cloning of p27Kip1, a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor and a potential mediator of extracellular antimitogenic signals

    Kornelia Polyak;Mong Hong Lee;Hediye Erdjument-Bromage;Andrew Koff

  • p27Kip1, a cyclin-Cdk inhibitor, links transforming growth factor-beta and contact inhibition to cell cycle arrest.

    Kornelia Polyak;Jun-ya Kato;Mark J. Solomon;Charles J. Sherr

  • Incidence and functional consequences of hMLH1 promoter hypermethylation in colorectal carcinoma

    James G. Herman;Asad Umar;Kornelia Polyak;Jeremy R. Graff

  • Intra-tumour heterogeneity: a looking glass for cancer?

    Andriy Marusyk;Vanessa Almendro;Vanessa Almendro;Kornelia Polyak

  • Tumor heterogeneity: causes and consequences

    Andriy Marusyk;Kornelia Polyak

  • A Syndrome of Multiorgan Hyperplasia with Features of Gigantism, Tumorigenesis, and Female Sterility in p27Kip1-Deficient Mice

    Matthew L. Fero;Michael Rivkin;Michael Tasch;Peggy Porter

  • 14-3-3σ Is a p53-Regulated Inhibitor of G2/M Progression

    Heiko Hermeking;Christoph Lengauer;Kornelia Polyak;Tong Chuan He

  • Molecular Definition of Breast Tumor Heterogeneity

    Michail Shipitsin;Lauren L. Campbell;Pedram Argani;Stanislawa Weremowicz

  • Molecular characterization of the tumor microenvironment in breast cancer

    Minna Allinen;Rameen Beroukhim;Li Cai;Cameron Brennan

  • Sequence analysis of mutations and translocations across breast cancer subtypes

    Shantanu Banerji;Kristian Cibulskis;Claudia Rangel-Escareno;Kristin K. Brown

  • Normal and neoplastic nonstem cells can spontaneously convert to a stem-like state

    Christine L. Chaffer;Ines Brueckmann;Christina Scheel;Alicia J. Kaestli

  • Interleukin-2-mediated elimination of the p27Kip1 cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor prevented by rapamycin.

    Jamison Nourse;Eduardo Firpo;W. Michael Flanagan;Steve Coats

  • Kip/Cip and Ink4 Cdk inhibitors cooperate to induce cell cycle arrest in response to TGF-beta.

    I Reynisdóttir;K Polyak;A Iavarone;J Massagué

  • Heterogeneity in breast cancer

    Kornelia Polyak

  • Ductal Carcinoma in Situ of the Breast

    Harold J. Burstein;Kornelia Polyak;Julia S. Wong;Susan C. Lester

Frequent Co-Authors

Andrea L. Richardson
Andrea L. Richardson Johns Hopkins University
Franziska Michor
Franziska Michor Harvard University
Bert Vogelstein
Bert Vogelstein Johns Hopkins University
Ian E. Krop
Ian E. Krop Harvard University
Rebecca Gelman
Rebecca Gelman Harvard University
Saraswati Sukumar
Saraswati Sukumar Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Matthew Meyerson
Matthew Meyerson Harvard University
William C. Hahn
William C. Hahn Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Myles Brown
Myles Brown Harvard University
Judy Garber
Judy Garber Harvard University

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