Scientists / Our Scientists

Shahram Misaghi

Technical Development Prin Scientist, Cell Culture and Bioprocess Operations (CCBO)

Postdoc Mentor

"A hypothesis should not be a fixed concept, it should change and evolve based on data and new findings and as scientists, we should constantly challenge our hypotheses."

Years at Genentech

Publications at Genentech

Awards & Honors

I am a principal scientist and a group leader at the Cell Culture and Bioprocess Operations (CCBO) department at Genentech. I joined the CCBO department in 2010, after completing my postdoctoral work here at Genentech in Physiological Chemistry department under supervision of Dr. Vishva Dixit.

My educational background is as following:

Associate Science: Merritt Community College (Peralta community colleges), Oakland, California.
Bachelor: University of California Berkeley, Molecular and Cell Biology.
PhD: Harvard University, Biological and Biomedical Sciences (Hidde Ploegh lab).
Post-doctoral fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, Ploegh lab).
Post-doctoral fellow at Genentech (Vishva Dixit lab).

Postdoctoral Mentor

As a current postdoc mentor and previous Genentech postdoc, I am very proud of our postdoc program. Every postdoc brings with himself/herself new and exciting ways to look at and solve problems. Postdocs want to learn and discover and, in the process, they help us to think and look outside of the box. I truly enjoy interacting with these brilliant minds and believe that as mentors we should foster, support, and supervise them so that they become independent and confident researchers, as they will be leading our science into the future.

Featured Publication

UBR E3 ligases and the PDIA3 protease control degradation of unfolded antibody heavy chain by ERAD.

J Cell Biol. 2020 Jul 6;219(7):e201908087. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201908087

Tang D, Sandoval W, Lam C, Haley B, Liu P, Xue D, Roy D, Patapoff T, Louie S, Snedecor B, Misaghi S.

View Abstract

Pyruvate Kinase Muscle-1 Expression Appears to Drive Lactogenic Behavior in CHO Cell Lines, Triggering Lower Viability and Productivity: A Case Study.

Biotechnol J. 2019 Apr;14(4):e1800332. doi: 10.1002/biot.201800332

Tang D, Subramanian J, Haley B, Baker J, Luo L, Hsu W, Liu P, Sandoval W, Laird MW, Snedecor B, Shiratori M, Misaghi S.

View Abstract

FX knockout CHO hosts can express desired ratios of fucosylated or afucosylated antibodies with high titers and comparable product quality.

Louie S, Haley B, Marshall B, Heidersbach A, Yim M, Brozynski M, Tang D, Lam C, Petryniak B, Shaw D, Shim J, Miller A, Lowe JB, Snedecor B, Misaghi S.

Biotechnol Bioeng. 2017 Mar;114(3):632-644.

View Abstract

Providing medicine at low(er) cost is an unmet challenge especially with regards to protein based therapeutic molecules. Improving expression and titer of cell lines that are used to manufacture these therapeutic molecules is hence of great interest. My team studies Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells behavior in culture at molecular and cellular levels, aiming to identify and utilize key proteins and signaling pathways that can potentially increase protein expression or culture growth. We regularly use biochemical and genetic screening tools to study and advance our understanding of CHO protein expression platforms. We are also involved in generation of stable cell lines expressing bio-therapeutics (proteins and antibodies) that support phase-I to phase-III and commercial drug manufacturing stages.

Combining regulated and constitutive protein expression significantly boosts protein expression by increasing productivity without affecting CHO cell growth

Biotechnology Progress, ISSN: 15206033 87567938

Cynthia Lam; Joe Carver; Domingos Ng; Dejin Zhan; Danming Tang; Thara Kandamkalam; Snedecor; Gavin Barnard; Amy Shen; Shahram Misaghi

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Shahram Misaghi

Technical Development Prin Scientist, Cell Culture and Bioprocess Operations (CCBO)

Featured Publication

UBR E3 ligases and the PDIA3 protease control degradation of unfolded antibody heavy chain by ERAD.

Pyruvate Kinase Muscle-1 Expression Appears to Drive Lactogenic Behavior in CHO Cell Lines, Triggering Lower Viability and Productivity: A Case Study.

FX knockout CHO hosts can express desired ratios of fucosylated or afucosylated antibodies with high titers and comparable product quality.