Damon Runyon Researchers

Meet Our Scientists
Kathrin Leppek, PhD

Dr. Leppek [Layton Family Fellow] aims to combine RNA and ribosome biology with developmental biology to investigate how cells regulate protein synthesis through a process called translation. This process requires regulatory mechanisms to fine-tune when and where genes are expressed. Defective expression of certain genes gives rise to uncontrolled growth and metastasis of cancer cells. She will identify and characterize molecular components that play a functional role in mediating translational control during embryogenesis. This will be invaluable for our understanding of how deregulation of accurate gene expression underlies human diseases such as cancer.

Project title: "Mechanistic characterization of 5’UTR RNA elements that confer translational specificity to shape vertebrate embryonic development"
Institution: Stanford University
Named Award: Layton Family Fellow
Award Program: Fellow
Sponsor(s) / Mentor(s): Maria Barna, PhD
Cancer Type: Blood, Gastric, Gynecological, Breast, Colorectal, Lung, Pancreatic
Research Area: Developmental Biology