Dan Yansura Principal Scientist: Antibody Engineering Profile | Education/Background | Top Scientific Papers | Awards & Honors

"I came to Genentech in 1978 to work on producing recombinant human insulin in bacteria, the first commercial test of the new biotechnology field. This was an exciting time as it turned into a three way scientific race with labs at Harvard and UCSF. Although the basic molecular biology tenet of Gene -> mRNA -> Protein was well established, the details of how this would work with an engineered human protein was still largely unknown at the time. The work in those early days, manipulating E. coli to transcribe, translate, secrete and fold human proteins for research and for therapeutic purposes, became my passion. It continues to be my passion to this day."

Current Projects "My lab works on the bacterial expression of a broad spectrum of mammalian proteins, but also focuses on specific groups in more detail. Antibodies are one such group, and we have specialized in making novel molecules such as full-length bispecific and "one armed" monovalent IgGs such as MetMAb. A second focus area is the production of multi-spanning membrane proteins; we are also trying to develop new ways to isolate antibodies to these complex proteins."

Collaborations "Science at a place like Genentech just doesn't work without close interaction between labs. Nothing reaches the clinical phase without intense collaboration. Also, science is just more exciting when it is shared. Throughout the years here, I have had the opportunity to work with many bright and devoted researchers. A recent example is the development of MetMAb, which required close interactions and data sharing between our labs in Antibody Engineering and labs in Molecular Biology, Translational Oncology, Protein Chemistry and Early Stage Cell Culture. A close working relationship with other labs is a significant aspect of my work."

Inspiration/Vision "Genentech's founding fathers, Bob Swanson and Herb Boyer, developed a unique research environment. They believed that if you hired good scientists, you could give them freedom and let them just do their work. I found this environment inspiring and exciting. It gave me the opportunity to explore an aspect of science that I had always found fascinating and, at the same time, with the human therapeutics that resulted from the work, to feel that I was contributing to something larger."