I joined Genentech in 1992 because of its reputation for outstanding science. What impressed me most when I arrived was the strongly collaborative relationships that quickly developed among my colleagues. I feel fortunate that my position has allowed me to connect my past experiences in protein chemistry as a graduate student, cell biology as a postdoctoral fellow, and assay development gained in industry.

The past 20 years have continued to provide me with opportunities to learn and grow scientifically while allowing me to contribute to the discovery of small molecule therapeutics. It has been extremely rewarding to be a part of the growth and development of the small molecule organization from one that makes potent, selective molecules to one that makes drugs that benefit patients.

• My Focus

  My group develops and provides biochemical and cellular assays to promote the discovery of small molecule therapeutics. We use these assays for high-throughput screening, compound profiling, and establishing structure-activity relationships. We have also established state-of-the-art, high-throughput automated systems for managing compounds and conducting assays.

  We explore and integrate new technologies for assays and automation that improve data quality, increase information content, and streamline processes. We collaborate both internally and externally to build informatics capabilities that facilitate process management and data analysis.

• Publications

  • Discovery of a Potent Small-Molecule Antagonist of Inhibitor of Apoptosis (IAP) Proteins and Clinical Candidate for the Treatment of Cancer (GDC-0152)

    Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2012, ISSN: 0022-2623

    Flygare, John A; Beresini, Maureen; Budha, Nageshwar; Chan, Helen; Chan, Iris T; Cheeti, Sravanthi; Cohen, Frederick; Deshayes, Kurt; Doerner, Karl; Eckhardt, S. Gail; Elliott, Linda O; Feng, Bainian; Franklin, Matthew C; Reisner, Stacy Frankovitz; Gazzard, Lewis; Halladay, Jason; Hymowitz, Sarah G; La, Hank; LoRusso, Patricia; Maurer, Brigitte; Murray, Lesley; Plise, Emile; Quan, Clifford; Stephan, Jean-Philippe; Young, Shin G; Tom, Jeffrey; Tsui, Vickie; Um, Joanne; Varfolomeev, Eugene; Vucic, Domagoj; Wagner, Andrew J; Wallweber, Heidi J. A; Wang, Lan; Ware, Joseph; Wen, Zhaoyang; Wong, Harvey; Wong, Jonathan M; Wong, Melisa; Wong, Susan; Yu, Ron; Zobel, Kerry; Fairbrother, Wayne J;

     View on PubMed

  • Case Studies of Minimizing Nonspecific Inhibitors in HTS Campaigns That Use Assay-Ready Plates

    Journal of Biomolecular Screening, 2012, ISSN: 1087-0571

    Liu, Yichin; Beresini, Maureen H; Johnson, Adam; Mintzer, Robert; Shah, Kinjalkumar; Clark, Kevin; Schmidt, Stephen; Lewis, Cristina; Liimatta, Marya; Elliott, Linda O; Gustafson, Amy; Heise, Christopher E

     View on PubMed

  • Identification of IgG(1) variants with increased affinity to Fcγ RIIIa and unaltered affinity to FcγRI and FcRn: Comparison of soluble receptor-based and cell-based binding assays.

    Journal of Immunological Methods, 2010, ISSN: 1872-7905

    Lu, Y.; Vernes, J.M.; Chiang, N.; Ou, Q.; Ding, J.; Adams, C.; Hong, K.; Truong, B.T.; Ng, D.; Shen, A.; Nakamura, G.; Gong, Q.; Presta, L.G.; Beresini, M.; Kelley, B.; Lowman, H.; Wong, W.; Meng, Y.G.

  • N-Benzoyl amino acids as LFA-1/ICAM inhibitors 1: amino acid structure-activity relationship

    Bioorg. Medicinal Chem. Letts., 2003, ISSN:

    Burdick, D.J.;Paris, K.;Weese, K.;Stanley, M.;Beresini, M.;Clark, K.;McDowell, R.S.;Marsters, J.C., Jr.;Gadek, T.R.

• Education
  • University of California, San Francisco, Cancer Research Institute, Postdoctoral Fellow – 1987
  • University of California, Davis, Biological Chemistry, Ph.D. – 1985
  • University of Santa Clara, Biology, B.Sci. – 1980
• Awards & Honors
  • American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship – 1986
  • National Institutes of Health Training Grant – 1984
  • Earl C. Anthony Fellowship, University of California, Davis – 1980
  • California State Scholarship – 1980
  • Phi Beta Kappa Membership Awarded – 1980