Research

Dr. Leach’s laboratory has a long track record of research productivity in the field of pancreatic cancer biology and is known for establishing important links between pancreatic development and pancreatic cancer using both mouse and zebrafish model systems. These include the initial discovery of abnormal Notch pathway activation as an important driver of pancreatic tumorigenesis, the identification of adult acinar cells effective “cells of origin” for pancreatic “ductal” neoplasia, the identification of a new hematopoietic-to-epithelial signaling axis required for PanIN initiation, and a detailed mapping of a unique immune neoepitope landscape associated with long term survival. Together with additional studies of pancreatic development and pancreatic epithelial plasticity, these findings have widened our view of early events in human pancreatic cancer.

Current Projects

  1. The role of altered mRNA splicing in pancreatic cancer biology
  2. Chromatin accessibility signatures as predictors of outcome in human pancreatic cancer
  3. Patterns and mechanisms of clonal evolution in mouse and zebrafish cancer models