LABEST 2022 PROFESSOR SPOTLIGHTS
Professor Spotlight Webinar Series is one of a kind initiative by UCLA TDG for UCLA’s scientific community to share their research, vision and major programs how they are working towards addressing critical unmet needs whilst, fostering a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation amongst the faculty members and the Los Angeles bioscience ecosystem.
Hear first-hand from UCLA’s leading inventors as they discuss their research and look to build successful collaborations and invite investment opportunities to advance their research as one step forward in bridging the gap between scientific discovery and commercialization.
So, get ready, grab your favorite drink and engage with our first "Professor Spotlight Webinar Series”
If you are interested in any of the research from the Professor Spotlights, contact Mark Wisniewski, Senior Director Biopharmaceuticals, UCLA TDG, mark.wisniewski@tdg.ucla.edu or fill out the form in the button below;
CANCER
Dr. St. John received her B.S. from Stanford University and M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University. She completed residency and postdoctoral training at UCLA and served previously as Chief of Head and Neck Surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
Dr. St. John's clinical expertise is in intraoperative tumor margin delineation in the resection and treatment of head and neck cancers to allow for precision surgery. Her laboratory research is translational with a focus on improving therapies and outcomes for patients with head and neck cancer. Her efforts have helped in the development of strong interdepartmental research programs in Head & Neck Surgery and Bioengineering. This work has led to clinical trials and patent applications and has been consistently funded by the NIH, charitable foundations, and industry.
Dr. Torres received his B.S. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1998, where he conducted research under the mentorship of Dr. Eduardo Orias. He obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University in 2004 under the direction of Dr. Virginia A. Zakian. He conducted his postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Dr. Peter K. Jackson at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Genentech Inc. until 2009 when he joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA.
TORRES LAB
Caius Radu is Professor in the Departments of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology and Surgery at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). He also serves as a Vice Chairman of the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, and Co-Director of the Cancer Molecular Imaging, Nanotechnology, and Theranostics Research Program (CMINT) Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Radu received his M.D. from the University of Medicine, Craiova, Romania and completed his postdoctoral training in immunology and cancer biology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and at UCLA with Dr. Owen Witte.
NEUROSCIENCE
Samantha Butler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurobiology and a member of the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center since 2013. She received a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University in 1996. As a graduate student with Yash Hiromi at Princeton University, Dr. Butler studied the genetic mechanisms that establish neural identity in the Drosophila eye during development. Dr. Butler then trained as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Jane Dodd at Columbia University where she focused on understanding the molecular identity of the factors that guide axons into their stereotyped trajectories in the developing spinal cord. Dr. Butler showed that molecules previously identified as morphogens, specifically the Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) family of growth factors, can act as axon guidance signals.