Leisa Johnson

Senior Scientist, Molecular Biology

POSTDOC MENTOR

"Ultimately, one of our biggest motivations is to see our efforts translate into clinical applications. There is such an incredible feeling when you are lucky enough to see your accomplishments have a meaningful impact on cancer patients, even if it is only one patient."

• 9
  years at Genentech
• 5
  publications (2010-12)

I came to Genentech in 2004 because of the commitment here to strong basic research as well as a fantastic opportunity to head up a group dedicated to integrating genetically engineered mouse models of oncology into novel target and drug validation efforts.

Genentech offers a unique cultural environment that tries to capture the best of both academia and industry, where creativity and taking risks are not only valued, but encouraged.

• My Focus

  We are interested in developing and applying genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) of cancer to target identification and validation efforts as well as pre-clinical therapeutic assessment of novel agents and approved drugs. Working with these models in the research setting at Genentech comprises a unique opportunity to test and characterize such novel agents.

  Currently, the efforts of the GEMM group are focused on modeling human lung, pancreatic, colon, and prostate cancer in ways that faithfully mirror their human counterparts. Importantly, these models closely recapitulate the disease etiology where tumor-initiating cells are activated in a microenvironment that maintains the tumor-normal cell interactions, including the immune and vascular systems. In addition, some of our efforts are focused on interrogating normal and tumor stem cells and how they impact the various stages of tumorigenesis and therapeutic responsiveness.

  Some of the studies in my lab are focused on using GEMMs of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to investigate the Ras pathway and ErbB family members. To exploit the full power & utility of GEMMs, we are trying to develop novel viral platforms and libraries to facilitate screening efforts both in vitro and in vivo. Ideally, these systems will allow us to interrogate targets of interest by RNAi at defined stages of tumorigenesis and to ultimately identify and gain a better understanding of the cooperating targets and pathways that influence NSCLC tumor initiation, progression, maintenance and drug responsiveness.

• Publications

  • Conditional activation of Pik3ca H1047R in a knock-in mouse model promotes mammary tumorigenesis and emergence of mutations

    Oncogene, 2013, ISSN: 0950-9232

    Yuan, W.; Stawiski, E.; Janakiraman, V.; Chan, E.; Durinck, S.; Edgar, K.A.; Kljavin, N.M.; Rivers, C.S.; Gnad, F.; Roose-Girma, M.; Haverty, P.M.; Fedorowicz, G.; Heldens, S.; Soriano, R.H.; Zhang, Z.; Wallin, J.J.; Johnson, L.; Merchant, M.; Modrusan, Z.; Stern, H.M.; Seshagiri, S.

     View on PubMed

  • Anti-VEGF antibody therapy does not promote metastasis in genetically engineered mouse tumor models

    Journal of Pathology, 2012, ISSN:

    Singh, Mallika; Couto, Suzana S; Forrest, William F; Lima, Anthony; Cheng, Jason H; Molina, Rafael; Long, Jason E; Hamilton, Patricia; McNutt, Angela; Kasman, Ian; Nannini, Michelle A; Reslan, Hani Bou; Cao, Tim C; Ho, Calvin C. K; Barck, Kai H; Carano, Richard A. D; Foreman, Oded; Eastham-Anderson, Jeffrey; Jubb, Adrian M; Ferrara, Napoleone; Johnson, Leisa;

     View on PubMed

  • Cancer: Clinical trials unite mice and humans

    Nature, 2012, ISSN: 0028-0836

    Johnson, Leisa;

     View on PubMed

  • Androgen Deprivation Causes Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in the Prostate: Implications for Androgen-deprivation Therapy.

    Cancer Research, 22 Nov 2011, ISSN: 1538-7445.

    Sun, Yuting; Wang, Bu Er; Leong, Kevin G; Yue, Peng; Li, Li; Jhunjhunwala, Suchit; Chen, Darrell; Seo, Kyounghee; Modrusan, Zora; Gao, Wei Qiang; Settleman, Jeffrey; Johnson, Leisa

     View on PubMed

  • Assessing therapeutic responses in Kras mutant cancers using genetically engineered mouse models.

    Nature Biotechnology, 2010, ISSN: 1546-1696

    Singh, M.; Lima, A.; Molina, R.; Hamilton, P.; Clermont, A.; Devasthali, V.; Thompson, J.; Cheng, J.H.; Bou-Reslan, H.; Ho, C.C.K.; Cao, T., Lee, C., Nannini, M.; Fuh, G.; Carano, R.; Koeppen, H.; Yu, R.; Forrest, W.; Plowman, G.; Johnson, L.

• Education
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biology, Ph.D. – 1996
  • Hastings College, Department of Chemistry, B.A. – 1989