Somasekar Seshagiri

Principal Scientist, Molecular Biology

POSTDOC MENTOR

"Genentech...is a place where you can push the envelope and make what seems a fantasy a reality."

• 15
  years at Genentech
• 33
  publications (2010-12)
• 2
  awards & honors

I came to Genentech in 1998 as a postdoctoral fellow to work with Vishva Dixit. Moving to Genentech for my research work was one of the very rare easy decisions I made. I knew I was going to the best in industry and a top-notch lab as well.

• My Focus

  Our lab is applying high throughput genomic approaches to discover genomic aberrations in cancer. We are interested in understanding the role of such changes in cancer signaling using both computational approaches and functional assays. This will enable us to identify novel targets for therapeutic intervention.

  The lab is also actively involved in helping develop effective drugs to turn cancer into a chronic disease.

• Publications

  • SH3 interactome conserves general function over specific form

    Molecular Systems Biology, 2013, ISSN:

    Xin, Xiaofeng; Gfeller, David; Cheng, Jackie; Tonikian, Raffi; Sun, Lin; Guo, Ailan; Lopez, Lianet; Pavlenco, Alevtina; Akintobi, Adenrele; Zhang, Yingnan; Rual, Jean-François; Currell, Bridget; Seshagiri, Somasekar; Hao, Tong; Yang, Xinping; Shen, Yun A.; Salehi-Ashtiani, Kourosh; Li, Jingjing; Cheng, Aaron T.; Bouamalay, Dryden; Lugari, Adrien; Hill, David E.; Grimes, Mark L.; Drubin, David G.; Grant, Barth D.; Vidal, Marc; Boone, Charles; Sidhu, Sachdev S.; Bader, Gary D.

     View on PubMed

  • The burden of faulty proofreading in colon cancer

    Nature Genetics, 2013, ISSN: 1061-4036

    Seshagiri, Somasekar

     View on PubMed

  • 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

  • Genome and transcriptome sequencing of lung cancers reveal diverse mutational and splicing events

    Genome Research, 2012, ISSN: 1088-9051

    Liu, Jinfeng; Lee, William; Jiang, Zhaoshi; Chen, Zhongqiang; Jhunjhunwala, Suchit; Haverty, Peter M; Gnad, Florian; Guan, Yinghui; Gilbert, Houston; Stinson, Jeremy; Klijn, Christiaan; Guillory, Joseph; Bhatt, Deepali; Vartanian, Steffan; Walter, Kimberly; Chan, Jocelyn; Holcomb, Thomas; Dijkgraaf, Peter; Johnson, Stephanie; Koeman, Julie; Minna, John D; Gazdar, Adi F; Stern, Howard M; Hoeflich, Klaus P; Wu, Thomas D; Settleman, Jeff; de Sauvage, Frederic J; Gentleman, Robert C; Neve, Richard M; Stokoe, David; Modrusan, Zora; Seshagiri, Somasekar; Shames, David S; Zhang, Zemin

     View on PubMed

  • Disruption of PH-kinase domain interactions leads to oncogenic activation of AKT in human cancers

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012, ISSN: 0027-8424

    Parikh, Chaitali; Janakiraman, Vasantharajan; Wu, Wen-I; Foo, Catherine K; Kljavin, Noelyn M; Chaudhuri, Subhra; Stawiski, Eric; Lee, Brian; Lin, Jie; Li, Hong; Lorenzo, Maria N; Yuan, Wenlin; Guillory, Joseph; Jackson, Marlena; Rondon, Jesus; Franke, Yvonne; Bowman, Krista K; Sagolla, Meredith; Stinson, Jeremy; Wu, Thomas D; Wu, Jiansheng; Stokoe, David; Stern, Howard M; Brandhuber, Barbara J; Lin, Kui; Skelton, Nicholas J; Seshagiri, Somasekar

     View on PubMed

  • Comprehensive genomic analysis identifies SOX2 as a frequently amplified gene in small-cell lung cancer

    Nature Genetics, 2012, ISSN: 1061-4036

    Rudin, Charles M.; Durinck, Steffen; Stawiski, Eric W.; Poirier, John T.; Modrusan, Zora; Shames, David S.; Bergbower, Emily A.; Guan, Yinghui; Shin, James; Guillory, Joseph; Rivers, Celina Sanchez; Foo, Catherine K.; Bhatt, Deepali; Stinson, Jeremy; Gnad, Florian; Haverty, Peter M.; Gentleman, Robert; Chaudhuri, Subhra; Janakiraman, Vasantharajan; Jaiswal, Bijay S.; Parikh, Chaitali; Yuan, Wenlin; Zhang, Zemin; Koeppen, Hartmut; Wu, Thomas D.; Stern, Howard M.; Yauch, Robert L.; Huffman, Kenneth E.; Paskulin, Diego D.; Illei, Peter B.; Varella-Garcia, Marileila; Gazdar, Adi F.; De Sauvage, Frederic J.; Bourgon, Richard; Minna, John D.; Brock, Malcolm V.; Seshagiri, Somasekar

     View on PubMed

  • Recurrent R-spondin fusions in colon cancer

    Nature, 2012, ISSN: 0028-0836

    Seshagiri, Somasekar; Stawiski, Eric W. ; Durinck, Steffen; Modrusan, Zora; Storm, Elaine E.; Conboy, Caitlin B.; Chaudhuri, Subhra; Guan, Yinghui; Janakiraman, Vasantharajan; Jaiswal, Bijay S.; Guillory, Joseph; Ha, Connie; Dijkgraaf, Gerrit J. P. ;Stinson, Jeremy; Gnad, Florian; Huntley, Melanie A.; Degenhardt, Jeremiah D.; Haverty, Peter M.; Bourgon, Richard; Wang, Weiru ; Koeppen, Hartmut; Gentleman, Robert; Starr, Timothy K.; Zhang, Zemin; Largaespada, David A.; Wu, Thomas D. ; de Sauvage, Frederic J.

     View on PubMed

  • Loss of the Tumor Suppressor BAP1 Causes Myeloid Transformation

    Science, 2012, ISSN: 0036-8075

    Dey, Anwesha; Seshasayee, Dhaya; Noubade, Rajkumar; French, Dorothy M; Liu, Jinfeng; Chaurushiya, Mira S; Kirkpatrick, Donald S; Pham, Victoria C; Lill, Jennie R; Bakalarski, Corey E; Wu, Jiansheng; Phu, Lilian; Katavolos, Paula; Lafave, Lindsay M; Abdel-Wahab, Omar; Modrusan, Zora; Seshagiri, Somasekar; Dong, Ken; Lin, Zhonghua; Balazs, Mercedesz; Suriben, Rowena; Newton, Kim; Hymowitz, Sarah; Garcia-Manero, Guillermo; Martin, Flavius; Levine, Ross L; Dixit, Vishva M

     View on PubMed

  • DNA methylation profiling defines clinically relevant biological subsets of non-small cell lung cancer

    Clinical Cancer Research, 2012, ISSN: 1078-0432

    Walter, Kim; Holcomb, Thomas; Januario, Tom; Du, Pan; Evangelista, Marie; Kartha, Nithya; Iniguez, Leonardo; Soriano, Robert; Huw, Ling; Stern, Howard; Modrusan, Zora; Seshagiri, Somasekar; Hampton, Garret M; Amler, Lukas C; Bourgon, Richard; Yauch, Robert L; Shames, David S;

     View on PubMed

  • Conditional activation of Pik3caH1047R in a knock-in mouse model promotes mammary tumorigenesis and emergence of mutations

    Oncogene, 2012, ISSN:

    Yuan W; Stawiski E; Janakiraman V; Chan E; Durinck S; Edgar KA; Kljavin NM; Rivers CS; Gnad F; Roose-Girma M; Haverty PM; Fedorowicz G; Heldens S; Soriano RH; Zhang Z; Wallin JJ; Johnson L; Merchant M; Modrusan Z; Stern HM; Seshagiri S

     View on PubMed

  • Identification of a mutation in the extracellular domain of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor conferring cetuximab resistance in colorectal cancer

    Nature Medicine, 2012, ISSN: 1078-8956

    Montagut, Clara; Dalmases, Alba; Gallen, Manuel; Bellmunt, Joaquim; Rovira, Ana; Albanell, Joan; Bellosillo, Beatriz; Pairet, Silvia; Serrano, Sergi; Iglesias, Mar; Salido, Marta; Crespo, Marta; Bosch, Francesc; Marsters, Scot; Tsai, Siao Ping; Somasekar, Seshagiri; Settleman, Jeff; Minoche, André; Himmelbauer, Heinz

     View on PubMed

  • The effects of hepatitis B virus integration into the genomes of hepatocellular carcinoma patients

    Genome Research, 2012, ISSN: 1088-9051

    Jiang, Zhaoshi; Jhunjhunwala, Suchit; Liu, Jinfeng; Haverty, Peter M; Kennemer, Michael I; Guan, Yinghui; Lee, William; Carnevali, Paolo; Stinson, Jeremy; Johnson, Stephanie; Diao, Jingyu; Yeung, Stacy; Jubb, Adrian; Ye, Weilan; Wu, Thomas D; Kapadia, Sharookh B; de Sauvage, Frederic J; Gentleman, Robert C; Stern, Howard M; Seshagiri, Somasekar; Pant, Krishna P; Modrusan, Zora; Ballinger, Dennis G; Zhang, Zemin

     View on PubMed

  • Evidence for Sequenced Molecular Evolution of IDH1 Mutant Glioblastoma From a Distinct Cell of Origin.

    Journal of Clinical Oncology, 24 Oct 2011, ISSN: 1527-7755.

    Lai, Albert; Kharbanda, Samir; Pope, Whitney B; Tran, Anh; Solis, Orestes E; Peale, Franklin; Forrest, William F; Pujara, Kanan; Carrillo, Jose A; Pandita, Ajay; Ellingson, Benjamin M; Bowers, Chauncey W; Soriano, Robert H; Schmidt, Nils O; Mohan, Sankar; Yong, William H; Seshagiri, Somasekar; Modrusan, Zora; Jiang, Zhaoshi; Aldape, Kenneth D; Mischel, Paul S; Liau, Linda M; Escovedo, Cameron J; Chen, Weidong; Nghiemphu, Phioanh Leia; James, C David; Prados, Michael D; Westphal, Manfred; Lamszus, Katrin; Cloughesy, Timothy; Phillips, Heidi S

     View on PubMed

  • A whole-genome RNAi screen identifies an 8q22 gene cluster that inhibits death receptor-mediated apoptosis.

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 26 Sep 2011, ISSN: 1091-6490.

    Dompe, Nicholas; Rivers, Celina Sanchez; Li, Li; Cordes, Shaun; Schwickart, Martin; Punnoose, Elizabeth A; Amler, Lukas; Seshagiri, Somasekar; Tang, Jerry; Modrusan, Zora; Davis, David P

     View on PubMed

  • PPM1H Is a p27 Phosphatase Implicated in Trastuzumab Resistance.

    Cancer Discovery, 2011, V1, N4, SEP, pp 326-337, ISSN: 2159-8274.

    Lee, Hoeflich Si Tuen; Thinh, Q Pham; Dowbenko, Don; Munroe, Xander; Lee, James; Li, Li; Zhou, Wei; Haverty, Peter M; Pujara, Kanan; Stinson, Jeremy; Chan, Sara M; Eastham, Anderson Jeffrey; Pandita, Ajay; Seshagiri, Somasekar; Hoeflich, Klaus P; Turashvili, Gulisa; Gelmon, Karen A; Aparicio, Samuel A; Davis, David P; Sliwkowski, Mark X; Stern, Howard M

     View on PubMed

  • CD40 Pathway Activation Status Predicts Response to CD40 Therapy in Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma.

    Science Translational Medicine, 2011, ISSN: 1946-6242

    Burington, B.; Yue, P.; Shi, X.; Advani, R.; Lau, J.T.; Tan, J.; Stinson, S.; Stinson, J.; Januario, T.; de Vos, S.; Ansell, S.; Forero-Torres, A.; Fedorowicz, G.; Yang, T.T.C.; Elkins, K.; Du, C.; Mohan, S.; Yu, N.; Modrusan, Z.; Seshagiri, S.; Yu, S.F.; Pandita, A.; Koeppen, H.; French, D.; Polson, A.G.; Offringa, R.; Whiting, N.; Ebens, A.; Dornan, D.

  • Sensitivity to antitubulin chemotherapeutics is regulated by MCL1 and FBW7.

    Nature, 2011, ISSN: 0028-0836

    Wertz, I.E.; Kusam, S.; Lam, C.; Okamoto, T.; Sandoval, W.; Anderson, D.J.; Helgason, E.; Ernst, J.A.; Eby, M.; Liu, J.; Belmont, L.D.; Kaminker, J.S.; O'Rourke, K.M.; Pujara, K.; Kohli, P.B.; Johnson, A.R.; Chiu, M.L.; Lill, J.R.; Jackson, P.K.; Fairbrother, W.J.; Seshagiri, S.; Ludlam, M.J.C.; Leong, K.G.; Dueber, E.C.; Maecker, H.; Huang, D.C.S.; Dixit, V.M.

  • Deep RNA sequencing analysis of readthrough gene fusions in human prostate adenocarcinoma and reference samples.

    BMC Medical Genomics, 2011, ISSN: 1755-8794

    Nacu, S.; Yuan, W.; Kan, Z.; Bhatt, D.; Rivers, C.S.; Stinson, J.; Peters, B.A.; Modrusan, Z.; Jung, K.; Seshagiri, S.; Wu, T.D.

  • Coevolution of PDZ domain-ligand interactions analyzed by high-throughput phage display and deep sequencing.

    Molecular BioSystems, 2010, ISSN: 1742-206X

    Ernst, A.; Gfeller, D.; Kan, Z.; Seshagiri, S.; Kim, P.; Bader, G.; Sidhu, S.

  • Distinct somatic mutation patterns in multiple human cancers and their subtypes.

    Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, 2010, ISSN: 0197-016X

    Kan, Z.; Stinson, J.; Bhatt, D.; Stinson, J.; Bhatt, D.; Kaminker, J.; Stern, H.; Faham, M.; Seshagiri, S.

  • Frequent PIK3R1 somatic mutations promote oncogenic signaling.

    Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, 2010, ISSN: 0197-016X

    Jaiswal, B.; Janakiraman, V.; Chaudhuri, S.; Stern, H.; Kljavin, N.; Wang, W.; Kan, Z.; Bowman, K.; Wu, J.; Kaminker, J.; Yue, P.; de Sauvage, F.; Backer, J.; Seshagiri, S.

  • Diverse somatic mutation patterns and pathway alterations in human cancers.

    Nature, 2010, ISSN: 1476-4687

    Kan, Z.; Jaiswal, B.; Stinson, J.; Janakiraman, V.; Bhatt, D.; Stern, H.; Yue, P.; Haverty, P.; Bourgon, R.; Zheng, J.; Moorhead, M.; Chaudhuri, S.; Tomsho, L.; Peters, B.; Pujara, K.; Cordes, S.; Davis, D.; Carlton, V.; Yuan, W.; Li, L.; Wang, W.; Eigenbrot, C.; Kaminker, J.; Eberhard, D.; Waring, P.; Schuster, S.; Modrusan, Z.; Zhang, Z.; Stokoe, D.; de Sauvage, F.; Faham, M.; Seshagiri, S.

  • The mutation spectrum revealed by paired genome sequences from a lung cancer patient.

    Nature, 2010, ISSN: 1476-4687

    Lee, W.; Jiang, Z.; Liu, J.; Haverty, P.; Guan, Y.; Stinson, J.; Yue, P.; Zhang, Y.; Pant, K.; Bhatt, D.; Ha, C.; Johnson, S.; Kennemer ,M.; Mohan, S.; Nazarenko, I.; Watanabe, C.; Sparks, A.; Shames, D.; Gentleman, R.; de Sauvage, F.; Stern, H.; Pandita, A.; Ballinger, D.; Drmanac, R.; Modrusan, Z.; Seshagiri, S.; Zhang, Z.

  • RAF inhibitors prime wild-type RAF to activate the MAPK pathway and enhance growth.

    Nature, 2010, ISSN: 1476-4687

    Hatzivassiliou, G.; Song, K.; Yen, I.; Brandhuber, B.J.; Anderson, D.J.; Alvarado, R.; Ludlam, M.J.; Stokoe, D.; Gloor, S.L.; Vigers, G.; Morales, T.; Aliagas, I.; Liu, B.; Sideris, S.; Hoeflich, K.P.; Jaiswal, B.S.; Seshagiri, S.; Koeppen, H.; Belvin, M.; Friedman, L.S.; Malek, S.

  • Bayesian modeling of the yeast SH₃ domain interactome predicts spatiotemporal dynamics of endocytosis proteins - art. no. e1000218.

    Plos Biology, 2009, ISSN: 1544-9173

    Tonikian, R.; Xin, X.F.; Toret, C.P.; Gfeller, D.; Landgraf, C.; Panni, S.; Paoluzi, S.; Castagnoli, L.; Currell, B.; Seshagiri, S.; Yu, H.Y.; Winsor, B.; Vidal, M.; Gerstein, M.B.; Bader, G.D.; Volkmer, R.; Cesareni, G.; Drubin, D.G.; Kim, P.M.; Sidhu, S.S.; Boone, C.

  • Somatic mutations in p85alpha promote tumorigenesis through Class IA PI3K activation.

    Cancer Cell, 2009, ISSN: 1878-3686

    Jaiswal, B.S.; Janakiraman, V.; Kljavin, N.M.; Chaudhuri, S.; Stern, H.M.; Wang, W.; Kan, Z.; Dbouk, H.A.; Peters, B.A.; Waring, P.; Dela Vega, T.; Kenski, D.M.; Bowman, K.K.; Lorenzo, M.; Li, H.; Wu, J.; Modrusan, Z.; Stinson, J.; Eby, M.; Yue, P.; Kaminker, J.S.; de Sauvage, F.J.; Backer, J.M.; Seshagiri, S.

  • Smoothened mutation confers resistance to a hedgehog pathway inhibitor in medulloblastoma.

    Science, 2009, ISSN: 0036-8075

    Yauch, R.L.; Dijkgraaf, G.J.P.; Alicke, B.; Januario,T.; Ahn, C.P.; Holcomb, T.; Pujara, K.; Stinson, J.; Callahan, C.A.; Tang, T.; Bazan, J.F.; Kan, Z.; Seshagiri, S.; Hann, C.L.; Gould, S.E.; Low, J.A.; Rudin, C.M.; de Sauvage, F.J.

  • Regulation of Class IA PI 3-kinases: C2 domain-iSH2 domain contacts inhibit p85/p110 alpha and are disrupted in oncogenic p85 mutants.

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2009, ISSN: 0027-8424

    Wu, H.Y.; Shekar, S.C.; Flinn, R.J.; El-Sibai, M.; Jaiswal, B.S.; Sen, K.I.; Janakiraman, V.; Seshagiri, S.; Gerfen, G.J.; Girvin, M.E.; Backer, J.M.

  • Rapid evolution of functional complexity in a domain family.

    Science Signaling [Electronic Resource], 2009, ISSN: 1937-9145

    Ernst, A.; Sazinsky, S.L.; Hui, S.; Currell, B.; Dharsee, M.; Seshagiri, S.; Bader, G.D.; Sidhu, S.S.

  • Oncogenic activating mutations are associated with local copy gain.

    Molecular Cancer Research: MCR, 2009, ISSN: 1557-3125

    Modrek, B.; Ge, L.; Pandita, A.; Lin, E.; Mohan, S.; Yue, P.; Guerrero, S.; Lin, W.M.; Pham, T.; Modrusan, Z.; Seshagiri, S.; Stern, H.M.; Waring, P.; Garraway, L.A.; Chant, J.; Stokoe, D.; Cavet, G.

  • Combined targeting of BRAF and CRAF or BRAF and P13K effector pathways is required for efficacy in NRAS mutant tumors.

    PloS ONE, 2009, ISSN: 1932-6203

    Jaiswal, B.S.; Janakiraman, V.; Klavin, N.M.; Eastham-Anderson, J.; Cupp, J.E.; Liang, Y.; Davis, D.P.; Hoeflich, K.P.; Seshagiri, S.

  • High-throughput, high-accuracy array-based resequencing.

    Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2009, ISSN: 0027-8424

    Zheng, J.; Moorhead, M.; Weng, L.; Siddiqui, F.; Carlton, V.E.H.; Ireland, J.S.; Lee, L.; Peterson, J.; Wilkins, J.; Lin, S.; Kan, Z.Y.; Seshagiri, S.; Davis, R.W.; Faham, M.

  • Antitumor efficacy of the novel RAF inhibitor GDC-0879 is predicted by BRAF^V600E mutational status and sustained extracellular signal-regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway suppression.

    Cancer Research, 2009, ISSN: 1538-7445

    Hoeflich, K.P.; Herter, S.; Tien, J.; Wong, L.; Berry, L.; Chan, J.; O'Brien, C.; Modrusan, Z.; Seshagiri, S.; Lackner, M.; Stern, H.; Choo, E.; Murray, L.; Friedman, L.S.; Belvin, M.

• Education
  • Genentech, Oncology and Bioinformatics, Postdoctoral Fellow – 2000
  • University of Georgia, Department of Genetics, Ph.D. – 1998
  • Tnau, India, Department of Biotechnology, B.Sc. and M.Sc. – 1992
• Awards & Honors
  • CSIR-UGC Fellowship, India – 1992
  • Department of Biotechnology Fellowship, India – 1990-1992