Andrew C. Chan Senior Vice President: Immunology and Antibody Engineering Profile | Education/Background | Top Scientific Papers | Awards & Honors

"I decided to pursue a career at Genentech because it allowed me to combine my interest in basic science with my clinical interests in rheumatology, where I treated patients with a variety of autoimmune diseases. Because of my clinical interests, I have always been interested in translating my research into an improvement in treatment or in the basic understanding of a disease, both of which are clearly very important in trying to develop new therapeutics.

I was drawn particularly to Genentech because it is a grassroots, investigator-initiated type of environment where innovation and creativity are highly valued and emphasized. There is also a great degree of cross-talk and collaboration between different research areas to keep things exciting and fresh. Genentech is truly a research-based company, which was extremely important to me. Finally, I felt that I could make a great impact on medicine as a physician-scientist at Genentech."

Current Projects "Within Immunology, there are actually a number of different initiatives that have already resulted in potential therapeutic products. Some of these include Xolair® (Omalizumab) for asthma and Raptiva® (efalizumab), which is primarily for psoriasis, although it may well have significant therapeutic potential in a number of other autoimmune diseases. And, finally, LDP-02, which is currently under development, is a drug that is primarily for ulcerative colitis, but may also have therapeutic potential in a variety of other autoimmune disorders.

In terms of basic research and basic discovery efforts, we are implementing programs in a number of different areas which are centered on certain pathogenic processes that are cell-specific and could have applications for a number of different diseases. We have programs that are directed against T-cell function, B-cell function, and other components of the immune system which all contribute to the development of autoimmune disorders. These programs are of course evolving and developing, and in the future, we hope to identify therapeutic targets that are ultimately translated into products that improve patients' lives significantly."

Collaborations "One of the major strategic alliances is our collaborative efforts with the Departments of Physiology, Pathology, Molecular Biology and Biostatistics for in vivo biology. We are tapping into the expertise of clinical assessments of the Department of Physiology, the power of biostatistics, and the analytical tools of Pathology and Molecular Biology to develop a pre-clinical trials unit using animal models of disease. This strategic alliance will permit us to provide cutting-edge technology to evaluate therapeutic efficacies and potential toxicities of new therapeutic agents in a high throughput fashion. In addition, this alliance will also permit us to collaborate with academic institutions to train scientists with an interest in in vivo biology."

Inspiration/Vision "What continuously feeds us in Research is our desire to discover the unknown. We cannot predict what the outcome of an experiment will be. We can propose hypotheses of how we think certain pathogenic processes work or how certain disease processes work, but ultimately we have to find out whether or not we're correct, and the discovery process can be truly thrilling.

Also, this is a very fascinating time at Genentech for immunology. There are multiple areas of intense basic research, combined with our focus on disease states, all of which are extremely promising. And, given the history and tradition of outstanding research from individual investigators at the company, I think the next five to 10 years will prove an extremely fruitful time for Genentech in terms of therapeutics for autoimmune disorders."