Research Summary

The goal of my laboratory is to better understand the biology of skin cancer. We employ a variety of -omic approaches, including the use of DNA-sequencing, RNA-sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, and single-cell sequencing technologies. Our main focus is on melanoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. Previously, we have defined the driver genes and the mutational processes that were operative in these types of cancer. We are also interested in their precursor lesions (common nevi and actinic keratoses), their cells of origin (melanocytes and keratinocytes), and the tumor microenvironment (particularly immune cells). By studying the early stages of tumorigenesis in addition to fully-evolved tumors, we have delineated the critical events involved in the progression of skin cancers from individual cells, to benign neoplasms, to invasive cancers, and eventually to metastases. Collectively, our work has improved the diagnosis and staging of skin cancers and offered important guidance for prevention campaigns.

Education

University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign, IL, BS, 05/2006, Biochemistry
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA PhD 04/2012 Cancer Biology
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, Postdoctoral Fellow, 09/2017

Honors & Awards

  • 2006
    Graduate Summa Cum Laude, University of Illinois
  • 2006
    William T. & Lynn Jackson Best Senior Thesis Award, University of Illinois
  • 2007
    Stanford Graduate Fellowship
  • 2008
    National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship
  • 2013
    Ruth L Kirschstein National Service Award Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • 2016
    The NCI Transition Career Development Award (K22)
  • 2018
    Selected as one of the Next Generation Stars of Cancer Research by the American Association of Cancer Research
  • 2018
    Recipient of the Young Investigator Award by the Society of Melanoma Research
  • 2021
    LEO Foundation Award for a skin cancer under the age of 40 who has made important contributions to the field
  • 2024
    Member of the Human Tumor Atlas Network (HTAN), leading the Pre-cancer atlas of skin cancer project

Selected Publications

  1. Rentroia-Pacheco B, Shain AH. Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma progression: what does a meta-analysis of transcriptomic studies tell us? Br J Dermatol. 2024 Oct 17; 191(5):656-657.  View on PubMed
  2. Tandukar B, Deivendran D, Chen L, Cruz-Pacheco N, Sharma H, Xu A, Bandari AK, Chen DB, George C, Marty A, Cho RJ, Cheng J, Saylor D, Gerami P, Arron ST, Bastian BC, Shain AH. Genetic evolution of keratinocytes to cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. bioRxiv. 2024 Jul 24.  View on PubMed
  3. Wang M, Fukushima S, Sheen YS, Ramelyte E, Cruz-Pacheco N, Shi C, Liu S, Banik I, Aquino JD, Sangueza Acosta M, Levesque M, Dummer R, Liau JY, Chu CY, Shain AH, Yeh I, Bastian BC. The genetic evolution of acral melanoma. Nat Commun. 2024 Jul 21; 15(1):6146.  View on PubMed
  4. Wu D, Hailer AA, Wang S, Yuan M, Chan J, El Kurdi A, Rahim M, Kondo A, Han D, Ali H, D'Angio B, Mayer A, Klufas D, Kim E, Shain AH, Choi J, Bhutani T, Simpson G, Grekin RC, Ricardo-Gonzalez R, Purdom E, North JP, Cheng JB, Cho RJ. A single-cell atlas of IL-23 inhibition in cutaneous psoriasis distinguishes clinical response. Sci Immunol. 2024 01 26; 9(91):eadi2848.  View on PubMed
  5. Pozniak J, Pedri D, Landeloos E, Van Herck Y, Antoranz A, Vanwynsberghe L, Nowosad A, Roda N, Makhzami S, Bervoets G, Maciel LF, Pulido-Vicuña CA, Pollaris L, Seurinck R, Zhao F, Flem-Karlsen K, Damsky W, Chen L, Karagianni D, Cinque S, Kint S, Vandereyken K, Rombaut B, Voet T, Vernaillen F, Annaert W, Lambrechts D, Boecxstaens V, Saeys Y, van den Oord J, Bosisio F, Karras P, Shain AH, Bosenberg M, Leucci E, Paschen A, Rambow F, Bechter O, Marine JC. A TCF4-dependent gene regulatory network confers resistance to immunotherapy in melanoma. Cell. 2024 01 04; 187(1):166-183.e25.  View on PubMed
  6. Chen L, Chang D, Tandukar B, Deivendran D, Pozniak J, Cruz-Pacheco N, Cho RJ, Cheng J, Yeh I, Marine C, Bastian BC, Ji AL, Shain AH. STmut: a framework for visualizing somatic alterations in spatial transcriptomics data of cancer. Genome Biol. 2023 11 30; 24(1):273.  View on PubMed
  7. Wang M, Fukushima S, Sheen YS, Ramelyte E, Pacheco NC, Shi C, Liu S, Banik I, Aquino JD, Acosta MS, Levesque M, Dummer R, Liau JY, Chu CY, Shain AH, Yeh I, Bastian BC. The genetic evolution of acral melanoma. bioRxiv. 2023 Oct 19.  View on PubMed
  8. Shain AH. Melanoma Genomics: Shifting Focus from Inter- to Intrapatient Variation. Cancer Discov. 2023 06 02; 13(6):1294-1296.  View on PubMed
  9. Wang M, Banik I, Shain AH, Yeh I, Bastian BC. Integrated genomic analyses of acral and mucosal melanomas nominate novel driver genes. Genome Med. 2022 06 16; 14(1):65.  View on PubMed
  10. Joseph NM, Blank A, Shain AH, Gill RM, Umetsu SE, Shafizadeh N, Torbenson MS, Kakar S. Hepatocellular neoplasms with loss of liver fatty acid binding protein: Clinicopathologic features and molecular profiling. Hum Pathol. 2022 04; 122:60-71.  View on PubMed
  11. McNeal AS, Belote RL, Zeng H, Urquijo M, Barker K, Torres R, Curtin M, Shain AH, Andtbacka RH, Holmen S, Lum DH, McCalmont TH, VanBrocklin MW, Grossman D, Wei ML, Lang UE, Judson-Torres RL. BRAFV600E induces reversible mitotic arrest in human melanocytes via microrna-mediated suppression of AURKB. Elife. 2021 11 23; 10.  View on PubMed
  12. Chang D, Shain AH. The landscape of driver mutations in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. NPJ Genom Med. 2021 Jul 16; 6(1):61.  View on PubMed
  13. Shain AH. Two Trajectories to Melanoma on the Hands and Feet. JAMA Dermatol. 2021 07 01; 157(7):769-770.  View on PubMed
  14. Bowman RL, Hennessey RC, Weiss TJ, Tallman DA, Crawford ER, Murphy BM, Webb A, Zhang S, La Perle KM, Burd CJ, Levine RL, Shain AH, Burd CE. UVB mutagenesis differs in Nras- and Braf-mutant mouse models of melanoma. Life Sci Alliance. 2021 09; 4(9).  View on PubMed
  15. Tang J, Fewings E, Chang D, Zeng H, Liu S, Jorapur A, Belote RL, McNeal AS, Tan TM, Yeh I, Arron ST, Judson-Torres RL, Bastian BC, Shain AH. Publisher Correction: The genomic landscapes of individual melanocytes from human skin. Nature. 2021 Feb; 590(7844):E20.  View on PubMed
  16. Tang J, Fewings E, Chang D, Zeng H, Liu S, Jorapur A, Belote RL, McNeal AS, Tan TM, Yeh I, Arron ST, Judson-Torres RL, Bastian BC, Shain AH. The genomic landscapes of individual melanocytes from human skin. Nature. 2020 10; 586(7830):600-605.  View on PubMed
  17. Cao W, Lee H, Wu W, Zaman A, McCorkle S, Yan M, Chen J, Xing Q, Sinnott-Armstrong N, Xu H, Sailani MR, Tang W, Cui Y, Liu J, Guan H, Lv P, Sun X, Sun L, Han P, Lou Y, Chang J, Wang J, Gao Y, Guo J, Schenk G, Shain AH, Biddle FG, Collisson E, Snyder M, Bivona TG. Multi-faceted epigenetic dysregulation of gene expression promotes esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Nat Commun. 2020 07 22; 11(1):3675.  View on PubMed
  18. Shain AH, Bastian BC. Author Correction: From melanocytes to melanomas. Nat Rev Cancer. 2020 Jun; 20(6):355.  View on PubMed
  19. Botton T, Talevich E, Mishra VK, Zhang T, Shain AH, Berquet C, Gagnon A, Judson RL, Ballotti R, Ribas A, Herlyn M, Rocchi S, Brown KM, Hayward NK, Yeh I, Bastian BC. Genetic Heterogeneity of BRAF Fusion Kinases in Melanoma Affects Drug Responses. Cell Rep. 2019 10 15; 29(3):573-588.e7.  View on PubMed
  20. Zeng H, Judson-Torres RL, Shain AH. The Evolution of Melanoma - Moving beyond Binary Models of Genetic Progression. J Invest Dermatol. 2020 02; 140(2):291-297.  View on PubMed

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