Genentech: Kelly Storek | Principal Scientist, Infectious Diseases and Host-Microbe Interactions

Scientists / Our Scientists

"Microbes are intricately interconnected to human biology. It is a privilege to detangle these interactions and use microbes as next generation therapies to improve patients’ lives."

Years at Genentech

Publications at Genentech

Awards & Honors

Since my first undergraduate class looking at dirt under the microscope, I have been fascinated by bacteria. My career has focused on studying and manipulating bacteria alone and in communities, as well as interrogating how they influence inflammation and disease pathways in humans.

My training has spanned studying the virulence factors in aquatic fish pathogens to biofilm formation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa to human intracellular bacterial infections. After completing my postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University, I joined Genentech’s Infectious Disease Department in 2015 as a Principal Scientific Researcher discovering novel antibacterial compounds targeting Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. In 2020, I transitioned to a Senior Scientist and now lead a group centered on studying and engineering microbes to treat diseases.

Featured Publication

Monoclonal antibody targeting the β-barrel assembly machine of Escherichia coli is bactericidal.

Proc Natl Acad Sci.115(14):3692

Storek KM, Auerbach MR, Shi H, Garcia NK, Sun D, Nickerson NN, Vij R, Lin Z, Chiang N, Schneider K, Wecksler AT, Skippington E, Nakamura G, Seshasayee D, Koerber JT, Payandeh J, Smith PA and Rutherford ST. (2018)

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My lab focuses on microbes within the human gut, which depending on the environment can be beneficial, detrimental, or somewhere in between. We aim to use clinical samples and data to uncover important bacterial pathways in disease, and discover drugs that appropriately influence these pathways to bring forward novel therapies for patients.

While microbes are typically thought of as pathogens, many species are important and essential to human health. Our group is working to identify beneficial bacterial species and genetically engineer them to deliver therapeutics. These next generation delivery vehicles have the potential to precisely deliver therapeutics to the GI tract for diseases such as IBD.

The role of membrane destabilisation and protein dynamics in BAM catalysed OMP folding

Nature Communications, ISSN: 20411723

Paul White; Samuel F. Haysom; Matthew G. Iadanza; Anna J. Higgins; Jonathan M. Machin; James M. Whitehouse; Jim E. Horne; Bob Schiffrin; Charlotte Carpenter-Platt; Antonio N. Calabrese; Kelly M. Storek; Steven T. Rutherford; David J. Brockwell; Neil A. Ranson; Sheena E. Radford

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Inhibition of escherichia coli lipoprotein diacylglyceryl transferase is insensitive to resistance caused by deletion of Braun's lipoprotein

Journal of Bacteriology, ISSN: 10985530 00219193

Jingyu Diao; Rie Komura; Tatsuya Sano; Homer Pantua; Kelly M. Storek; Hiroko Inaba; Haruhiko Ogawa; Cameron Noland; Yutian Peng; Susan L. Gloor; Donghong Yan; Jing Kang; Anand K. Katakam; Michael Volny; Peter S. Liu; Nicholas N. Nickerson; Wendy N. Sandoval; Cary D. Austin; Jeremy Murray; Steven T. Rutherford; Mike Reichelt; Yiming Xu; Min Xu; Hayato Yanagida; Junichi Nishikawa; Patrick C. Reid; Christian N. Cunningham; Sharookh B. Kapadia

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Potent killing of pseudomonas aeruginosa by an antibody-antibiotic conjugate

mBio, ISSN: 21507511 21612129

Kimberly K. Kajihara; Homer Pantua; Hilda Hernandez-Barry; Meredith Hazen; Kiran Deshmukh; Nancy Y. Chiang; Rachana Ohri; Erick R. Castellanos; Lynn Martin; Marissa L. Matsumoto; Jian Payandeh; Kelly M. Storek; Kellen Schneider; Peter A. Smith; Michael F. T. Koehler; Siao Ping Tsai; Richard L. Vandlen; Kelly M. Loyet; Nakamura; Thomas H. Pillow; Dhaya Seshasayee; Sharookh B. Kapadia; Wouter L. W. Hazenbos

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Structure of the essential inner membrane lipopolysaccharide–PbgA complex

Nature, ISSN: 14764687 00280836

Thomas Clairfeuille; Kerry R. Buchholz; Qingling Li; Erik Verschueren; Peter S. Liu; Dewakar Sangaraju; Summer Park; Cameron Noland; Kelly M. Storek; Nicholas N. Nickerson; Lynn Martin; Trisha Dela Vega; Anh Miu; Janina Reeder; Maria Ruiz-Gonzalez; Danielle L. Swem; Guanghui Han; Daniel P. DePonte; Mark S. Hunter; Cornelius Gati; Sheerin Shahidi-Latham; Min Xu; Nicholas J. Skelton; Benjamin D. Sellers; Elizabeth Skippington; Wendy N. Sandoval; Emily J. Hanan; Jian Payandeh; Steven T. Rutherford

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Massive antibody discovery used to probe structure–function relationships of the essential outer membrane protein lptd

eLife, ISSN: 2050084X

Kelly M. Storek; Joyce Chan; Rajesh Vij; Nancy Y. Chiang; Zhonghua Lin; Jack Bevers; Christopher M. Koth; Jean-Michel Vernes; Y. Gloria Meng; Jianping Yin; Heidi J. A. Wallweber; Olivier Dalmas; Stephanie K. Shriver; Christine Tam; Kellen Schneider; Dhaya Seshasayee; Nakamura; Peter A. Smith; Jian Payandeh; James T. Koerber; Laetitia Comps-Agrar; Steven T. Rutherford

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The Escherichia coli -barrel assembly machinery is sensitized to perturbations under high membrane fluidity

Journal of Bacteriology, ISSN: 10985530 00219193

Kelly M. Storek; Rajesh Vij; Dawei Sun; Peter A. Smith; James T. Koerber; Steven T. Rutherford

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A targeted boost-and-sort immunization strategy using Escherichia coli BamA identifies rare growth inhibitory antibodies

Scientific Reports, ISSN: 20452322

Rajesh Vij; Zhonghua Lin; Nancy Y. Chiang; Jean-Michel Vernes; Kelly M. Storek; Summer Park; Joyce Chan; Y. Gloria Meng; Laetitia Comps-Agrar; Patricia Luhn; Sophia Lee; Kellen Schneider; Jack Bevers; Inna Zilberleyb; Christine Tam; Christopher M. Koth; Min Xu; Avinash Gill; Marcy Auerbach; Peter A. Smith; Steven T. Rutherford; Nakamura; Dhaya Seshasayee; Jian Payandeh; James T. Koerber

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LysMD3 is a type II membrane protein without an in vivo role in the response to a range of pathogens

Journal of Biological Chemistry, ISSN: 1083351X 00219258

Christine C. Yokoyama; Megan T. Baldridge; Daisy W. Leung; Guoyan Zhao; Chandni Desai; Ta-Chiang Liu; Vladimir E. Diaz-Ochoa; Jeremy P. Huynh; Jacqueline M. Kimmey; Erica L. Sennott; Camaron R. Hole; Rachel A. Idol; Sunmin Park; Kelly M. Storek; Caihong Wang; Seungmin Hwang; Ashley Viehmann Milam; Eric Chen; Tobias Kerrinnes; Michael N. Starnbach; Scott A. Handley; Indira Mysorekar; Paul M. Allen; Denise M. Monack; Mary C. Dinauer; Tamara L. Doering; Renee M. Tsolis; Jonathan E. Dworkin; Christina L. Stallings; Gaya K. Amarasinghe; Craig A. Micchelli; Herbert W. Virgina

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Monoclonal antibody targeting the β-barrel assembly machine of Escherichia coli is bactericidal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, ISSN: 10916490 00278424

Kelly M. Storek; Marcy Auerbach; Handuo Shi; Natalie K. Garcia; Dawei Sun; Nicholas N. Nickerson; Rajesh Vij; Zhonghua Lin; Nancy Y. Chiang; Kellen Schneider; Aaron T. Wecksler; Elizabeth Skippington; Nakamura; Dhaya Seshasayee; James T. Koerber; Jian Payandeh; Peter A. Smith; Steven T. Rutherford

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cGAS and Ifi204 cooperate to produce type I IFNs in response to Francisella infection

Journal of Immunology, ISSN: 15506606 00221767

Kelly M. Storek; Nina A. Gertsvolf; Maikke B. Ohlson; Denise M. Monack

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University of Washington, Ph.D. Microbiology – 2012
University of California, B.S. Biochemistry and Cell Biology, B.S. Psychology – 2005

NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship Award – 2013
Stanley Falkow Award for Research – 2009
NIH Bacterial Pathogenesis Training Grant – 2008
Neal Groman Award for Excellence in Teaching – 2008

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Kelly Storek

Principal Scientist, Infectious Diseases and Host-Microbe Interactions

Featured Publication

Monoclonal antibody targeting the β-barrel assembly machine of Escherichia coli is bactericidal.