Ira Mellman

Vice President, Research Oncology

POSTDOC MENTOR

"At Genentech, I found that you can do your science at the highest possible level, engage the most profound problems you can imagine, have access to a research environment and infrastructure unimaginable at an academic institution, and also have the opportunity - and the challenge - to make a difference."

• 6
  years at Genentech
• 18
  publications (2010-12)
• 7
  awards & honors

I came to Genentech in the Spring of 2007 after more than 20 years as a faculty member at the Yale University School of Medicine, where I was chair of my department, a member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, and scientific director of the Yale Cancer Center. I ran a large and successful laboratory, I was surrounded by valued friends and colleagues, and I worked at one of the world's great universities. I had the perfect job, but I came to Genentech anyway. Why? Because at Genentech, I found that you can do your science at the highest possible level, engage the most profound problems you can imagine, have access to a research environment and infrastructure unimaginable at an academic institution, and also have the opportunity - and the challenge - to make a difference.

• My Focus

  I am a cell biologist, a scientific 'generalist' who is interested in understanding the cellular mechanisms responsible for complex phenomena. I began my career unraveling the pathways and functional significance of endocytosis, and over the years, applied the insights achieved to elucidate two key problems: the generation and maintenance of cell polarity and the cell biological basis of the immune response.

  Although these two problems may appear disparate, they are united by a reliance on a common set of fundamental mechanisms grounded in molecular cell biology.

  Our work on the immune response has concentrated on dendritic cells, a recently described cell type that is responsible for initiating all antigen-specific immune responses. A complex family of cells of as yet uncertain provenance, we have found that dendritic cells are uniquely proficient at stimulating T-cell responses because they exhibit an incredible array of specializations that optimize and regulate the endocytic and secretory pathways for antigen endocytosis, the generation of antigenic peptides bound to molecules of the major histocompatability complex (MHC), and the functional interaction with cognate T and B lymphocytes.

  In the area of cell polarity, our group has been responsible for elucidating how protein-encoded signals control the distribution of membrane proteins to the appropriate domain of polarized cells such as epithelial cells and neurons. In anticipation of our move to Genentech, the group has now begun to focus more on a more systems-oriented aspect polarity: how membrane traffic and signal transduction are responsible for cellular and tissue morphogenesis, and how these processes break down in cancer.

• Publications

  • Antigen delivery to early endosomes eliminates the superiority of human blood BDCA3+ dendritic cells at cross presentation

    Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2013, ISSN: 0022-1007

    Cohn, Lillian; Chatterjee, Bithi; Esselborn, Filipp; Smed-Sörensen, Anna; Nakamura, Norihiro; Chalouni, Cécile; Lee, Byoung-Chul; Vandlen, Richard; Keler, Tibor; Lauer, Peter; Brockstedt, Dirk; Mellman, Ira; Delamarre, Lélia

     View on PubMed

  • Lkb1 regulates organogenesis and early oncogenesis along AMPK-dependent and -independent pathways

    Journal of Cell Biology, 2012, ISSN: 0021-9525

    Lo, Bryan; Strasser, Geraldine; Sagolla, Meredith; Austin, Cary D.; Junttila, Melissa; Mellman, Ira

     View on PubMed

  • Internalization and endosomal degradation of receptor-bound antigens regulate the efficiency of cross presentation by human dendritic cells

    Blood, 2012, ISSN:

    Chatterjee, Bithi; Smed-Sörensen, Anna; Cohn, Lillian; Chalouni, Cécile; Vandlen, Richard; Lee, Byoung-Chul; Widger, Jenifer; Keler, Tibor; Delamarre, Lélia; Mellman, Ira

     View on PubMed

  • Influenza a virus infection of human primary dendritic cells impairs their ability to cross-present antigen to CD8 T cells

    PLoS Pathogens, 2012, ISSN: 1553-7366

    Smed-Sörensen, Anna; Chalouni, Cécile; Chatterjee, Bithi; Cohn, Lillian; Blattmann, Peter; Nakamura, Norihiro; Delamarre, Lélia; Mellman, Ira;

     View on PubMed

  • AMP-activated Protein Kinase (AMPK) Activation and Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 beta (GSK-3β) Inhibition Induce Ca²⁺-independent Deposition of Tight Junction Components at the Plasma Membrane.

    JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY, 2011, V286, N19, MAY 13, pp 16879-16890. ISSN: 0021-9258.

    Zhang, Li; Jouret, Francois; Rinehart, Jesse; Sfakianos, Jeff; Mellman, Ira; Lifton, Richard P; Young, Lawrence H; Caplan, Michael J

     View on PubMed

  • Designing Vaccines Based on Biology of Human Dendritic Cell Subsets.

    Immunity, 2010, ISSN: 1074-7613

    Palucka, K.; Banchereau, J.; Mellman, I.

  • Cell Biology Redux.

    Molecular Biology of the Cell, 2010, ISSN: 1939-4586

    Mellman, I.

  • Hepatocyte Growth Factor stimulated cell scattering requires ERK and Cdc42-dependent tight junction disassembly.

    Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 2010, ISSN: 0006-291X

    Togawa, A.; Sfakianos, J.; Ishibe, S.; Suzuki, S.; Fujigaki, Y.; Kitagawa, M.; Mellman, I.; Cantley, L.

  • Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells Exhibit Increased Levels of Lysosomal Proteolysis as Compared to Other Human Dendritic Cell Populations.

    PLoS ONE, 2010, ISSN: 1932-6203

    McCurley, N.; Mellman, I.

  • β-catenin balances immunity.

    Science, 2010, ISSN: 1095-9203

    Mellman, I.; Clausen, B.

  • Trafficking Guidance Receptors.

    Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 2010, ISSN: 1943-0264

    Winckler, B.; Mellman, I.

  • Inflammasome-activating nanoparticles as modular systems for optimizing vaccine delivery

    Vaccine, 2009, ISSN: 0264-410X

    Demento, S.L.; Eisenbarth, S.C.; Foellmer, H.G.; Platt, C; Caplan, M.J.; Saltzman, W.M.; Mellman, I.; Ledizet, M.; Fikrig, E.; Flavell, R.A.; Fahmy, T.M.

  • Spatial control of EGF receptor activation by reversible dimerization on living cells.

    Nature, 2010, ISSN: 1476-4687

    Chung, I.; Akita, R.; Vandlen, R.; Toomre, D.; Schlessinger, J.; Mellman, I.

  • Mature dendritic cells use endocytic receptors to capture and present antigens.

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010, ISSN: 0027-8424

    Platt, C.D.; Ma, J.K.; Chalouni, C.; Ebersold, M.; Bou-Reslan, H.; Carano, R.A.D.; Mellman, I.; Delamarre, L.

  • The prioritization of cancer antigens: a National Cancer Institute pilot project for the acceleration of translational research.

    Clinical Cancer Research, 2009, ISSN: 1078-0432

    Cheever, M.A.; Allison, J.P.; Ferris, A.S.; Finn, O.J.; Hastings, B.M.; Hecht, T.T.; Mellman, I.; Prindiville, S.A.; Viner, J.L.; Weiner, L.M.; Matrisian, L.M.

  • Membrane proteins follow multiple pathways to the basolateral cell surface in polarized epithelial cells.

    Journal of Cell Biology, 2009, ISSN: 0021-9525

    Farr, G.A.; Hull, M.; Mellman, I.; Caplan, M.J.

  • Essential and unique roles of PIP5K-γ and -α in Fcγ receptor-mediated phagocytosis

    Journal of Cell Biology, 2009, ISSN: 0021-9525

    Mao, Y.S.; Yamaga, M.; Zhu, X.; Wei, Y.J.; Sun, H.Q.; Wang, J.; Yun, M.; Wang, Y.F.; Di Paolo, G.; Bennett, M.; Mellman, I.; Abrams, C.S.; De Camilli, P.; Lu, C.Y.; Yin, H.L.

  • Host ER-parasitophorous vacuole interaction provides a route of entry for antigen cross-presentation in Toxoplasma gondii-infected dendritic cells.

    Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2009, ISSN:

    Goldszmid, R.S.; Coppens, I.; Lev, A.; Caspar, P.; Mellman, I.; Sher, A.

• Education
  • The Rockefeller University, Postdoctoral Fellow – 1980
  • Yale University School of Medicine, Genetics, Ph.D. – 1978
  • Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music, Biology, B.A. – 1973
• Awards & Honors
  • Yale Science and Engineering Society Medal – 1985
  • President's Research Development Award, Leukemia Society of America – 1983
  • Junior Faculty Research Award, American Cancer Society – 1981
  • Swebilius Award – 1981
  • Fellow of the Leukemia Society of America – 1978
  • ISI Highly Cited Author –
  • Naidorf Award, Columbia University –